The trials of a trainer
by Jambolo
Summary: The ongoing Tale of Jimmy Lander and his attempts to cope with the confusing world of pokémon. Written to ammuse and entertain, feedback is always appreciated .
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own pokémon, nor do I own Nintendo, if I did I would be a very rich man and wouldn't be spending my time writing fan fiction. Now please enjoy ****J**

**Chapter one - The departure**

It was day-break, the sun slowly sliding behind the mountains ahead. A figure stood in the small remote village. The shops were closing and the people of the village were either getting an early night or gathering in the Pokémon centre for a night of heavy drinking. The lone figure wiped a tear from his eye. Jimmy Lander was 9 years old, standing at 4ft 10, he looked ahead at his future. Like so many other's he was awaiting his 10th birthday. But this thought did not fill him with excitement. It filled him with fear. Suddenly a door burst open behind the him, throwing light over the boy's face. His large blue eyes began to squint against the sudden appearance of light.

"Jimmy, what the hell are you doing outside" a voice said from behind this bright light. Jimmy blinked for a moment and suddenly felt a hand grab him by the shoulder.

Jimmy sat in his kitchen, looking down at the rice in front of him. His mum and dad sat across from him, staring expectantly. Jimmy turned to the seat next to him where a large Raichu sat grinning at him.

"So Jimmy" his dad said in an over dramatic fashion "Tomorrow you will be 10 years old, which around here makes you officially a man!" Jimmy looked up at his dad for a second and nodded. "and of course this means you will be leaving home on an amazing adventure!"

"Rai rai!" The Raichu shouted enthusiastically. Jimmy said nothing, he simply pushed a fork through the small pile of rice.

"Come on, where's your enthusiasm" Jimmy's mum said, in an extremely patronising voice "You're all grown up now, it's time for you to get out in the real world"

"But I don't think I'm ready for that" Jimmy said looking her straight in the eyes "I have no idea how to use a map, I don't know how to cook and from what I've heard, people will plan to beat the crap out of my pokémon and then take half my money!", at this Jimmy's dad began to laugh and turned to his wife

"Remember how we met" he said holding her hand "Raichu smashed your Squirtle right across the jaw isn't that right Raichu"

"Rai Rai!" the Raichu shouted enthusiastically. Jimmy looked up at his smiling parents. They had been through this and been fine. With a slight sigh, Jimmy walked away from the table.

"Be up bright and early tomorrow" his dad shouted after him "We'll be ready to introduce you to your new companion!". Jimmy said nothing and simply walked up the stairs.

Jimmy lay slumped across his bed. This was his last day at home for a very long time. He began thinking over his past. His education had been rather brief, apparently understanding how to paralyse, poison and put a pokémon to sleep, is a necessary part of his career. He remembered how ridiculous everyone's hair was. His own hair stuck up rebelliously, in fact it remained in a fixed position. It was almost completely black, his fringe seemed to stick over his eye, making depth perception very limited. However his hair was nowhere near as crazy as his class mates. The girls all seemed to have pink or blue hair whilst some of the boys seemed to have completely red hair. Something about Jimmy's existence troubled him greatly. Sometimes he thought there was more to life than getting pokémon to beat the crap out of each other. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling it's odd stiffness. Slowly he lay his head back and felt the embrace of sleep.

Jimmy lay in his bed, feeling the inviting warmness keep him in place. His home was so warm and so safe. Suddenly there came a crashing at the door. Jimmy's room was suddenly filled with light revealing his beaming dad standing in front of him. Jimmy registered his dad's presence before pulling his duvet over his head.

"That's not the spirit!" Jimmy's dad said, whipping the duvet off him. Jimmy curled into the foetal position, shaking against the sudden cold

"Go…away" he said, his voice muffled by the pillow.

"That's it!" his dad yelled "Raichu you know what to do"

"Rai rai!" The Raichu yelled enthusiastically.

"Okay" said Jimmy, leaping out of his bed quickly "please just let me get dressed or something."

"There's a good lad" his dad yelled "make sure you dress accordingly, you won't be having any change of clothing" before Jimmy could say anything his dad had slammed the door again. Jimmy sighed. He walked over to his cupboard and pulled out a red polo shirt, which he slid over his head. He then found himself a pair of jeans which he slowly pulled on. He looked over at a stand in the room, which displayed many caps. He looked at them and shook his head, he'd be fine as he is.

Jimmy walked down into his kitchen where his mum and dad sat laughing to each other. Suddenly they both stopped laughing and gasped at him.

"Jimmy, you're not wearing anything on your head!" his mum yelled with a look of horror in her eyes.

"Well I didn't think I need-" Jimmy started.

"You have to wear something!" His dad shouted "The chicks dig the head ware!" Jimmy stared at his dad but decided not to argue.

"I know!" his mother shouted quickly "He can wear your go-go goggles! They'd definitely be useful with his little company-"

"Shhhh" Jimmy's dad said quickly "don't spoil it, but yeah, my goggles could work, they definitely worked well for me" Jimmy's parents looked each other in the eyes, remembering their younger days. Jimmy stood nervously, staring out the window at a large box that was being brought over to the house.

"Ummm, what's in that big box" Jimmy said timidly. His parents looked up and stared out of the window, a smile appeared on his dad's face.

"Well it looks like your companion has arrived!" he said grinning enthusiastically.

"Why does it need such a big box" Jimmy said, knowing about the small size of the pokéball.

"Oh that's the furniture we're moving into your room" His dad said with a large smile "We're going to make it into a study!"

"So who has my pokémon?" Jimmy said, looking over at the van.

"I do" said a strained voice from the door way. Jimmy looked over to see a flustered boy standing panting heavily. He looked a few years older than Jimmy, he sported a blue coat and a yellow cap. His hair was brown and stuck out from underneath his hat. He looked over at Jimmy's dad.

"I ran as fast as I could, I even ran across a Miltank field" he said, panting heavily "my running shoes are full of something but I don't really want to know what" Jimmy's dad laughed and patted the boy on the shoulders.

"There's a good lad" Jimmy's dad said "now I suppose you'd like to battle me?" The boys eyes filled with excitement and he nodded enthusiastically.

"Great!" Jimmy's dad said "Jimmy, you can come see this, maybe learn a thing or two". Jimmy nodded and turned to the beaming boy.

"Oh yes, this is for you" he said, dropping the small metal ball into his hand. Jimmy looked down at it. Within this ball was his companion for his remaining years. This creature will stand by him, through thick and thin, fighting against man and nature alike. Together they would find a-

"Jimmy get your arse out here!" Jimmy looked up quickly, everyone was now standing outside, preparing to battle. Jimmy nodded and walked outside.

The anonymous boy stood facing Jimmy's dad, his eyes full of excitement.

"what do you say, one on one, win by K.O" Jimmy's dad said, inclining towards the boy. The boy nodded enthusiastically and reached for his pocket.

"I'll judge" Jimmy's mum said quickly "someone has to! Okay whenever you're ready!".

The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokéball which enlarged in his hand. He pulled back his arm and shouted

"Typhlosion go!" there was a flash of light and something that looked like a fiery ant eater appeared on the ground. Jimmy looked and saw his mum beckoning him over. He nodded and walked over to her. In her hand she was holding a little red book. Lights seemed to be flashing. Jimmy's mum pressed a button and the machine began to talk

"Typhlosion, the Volcano pokémon and the evolved form of Quilava"

"What's that thing" Jimmy said, pointing at the red book

"This is a pokédex" his mum said smiling at him "It records and provides information of the pokémon you see on your adventure. Of course you won't have one" she snapped the pokédex shut quickly and patted Jimmy on the head. Jimmy turned to his dad who had of course sent out his Raichu. Jimmy watched as the two creatures clashed with one another. The squeals of Raichu as he was given third degree burns, or the convulsions of the Typhlosion as Raichu shocked it madly. This was soon to be Jimmy's future. He looked down at the ball in his hand. His future sat in his hand, was he ready for it?

Suddenly there was a loud crash. The Typhlosion lay on the floor unconscious.

"Damn it" the boy said, returning his unconscious pokémon.

"Nice game!" Jimmy's dad said "you definitely gave Raichu a run for his money there, now come on, let's get you off to the Pokémon centre. Jimmy stood staring at the newly burnt lawn, he let out a sigh and followed the group to the pokémon centre.

The local pokémon centre was very small. As the town had very few trainers living in it there wasn't much need for it. Jimmy sat at the bar, waiting to be served. The barman walked over to him and frowned.

"I'm gonna need to see some ID" he said. Jimmy reached into his pocket and drew out his cycling licence. The picture was taken when he was 8 years old but he hadn't changed too much. "Oh so it's your 10th birthday!" the bar man said, reaching for a pint glass "This one's on the house", he poured out a smooth pint of Guinness and placed it in front of him. "don't drink it too quick" the barman said with a grin "It's really hard to train your pokémon when pissed I'll tell ya.". Jimmy picked up the glass and took a gulp of the bitter liquid. He felt a sickness appear in his stomach. "You'll get used to it" the barman said, "what pokémon have you got".

"I'm not sure" Jimmy said "I mean, I haven't really checked yet.

"What?!" the barman said with a look of shock "Get it out then!"

"Umm okay" Jimmy said, fumbling around with the ball. "So I just press the ball here" The ball suddenly grew in his hand. Struggling to hang on to it, he pulled his arm back "Go pokéball!" he shouted. There was a flash of light and the sound of breaking china. A small figure emerged from the light. Something that looked like a small armadillo.

"Ah a Sandshrew, nice" the barman said looking down at the small creature "though next time try and aim away from any display cabinets" Jimmy smiled and looked down at the creature. "So do ya want to give it a nickname then?" the barman asked, now ignoring the large group of people.

"Umm, does it matter?" Jimmy said, looking down at the little creature, which stared back at him.

"Well some people choose to" the barman said "I named mine after Naruto characters!" Jimmy squinted at the small Sandshrew. Sandy? That was hardly original, Jeremy? What sex was it, he didn't really want to check.

"Nah, Sandshrew's fine" Jimmy said with a nod.

"Excellent" the barman said with a smile "so where are your parents?"

"They're off with some trainer somewhere" Jimmy said glumly "dad reckons he's found his protégé". The barman nodded and turned to see the large group of angry customers. Jimmy walked away from the bar. The Guinness had made him feel a bit unsteady, but he soldiered on. He saw his parents now chatting away by the entrance. His dad looked up at him and then stared at the Sandshrew which slowly followed behind.

"Whoa keep an eye on that guy" his dad said "you'll be needing him to look after you!". Jimmy nodded and reached out his arm towards the small creature.

"Shrew shrew!" it said enthusiastically and leapt onto his back. Jimmy winced as the Sandshrew clung on to his shoulder.

"Well then, I guess it's time to go!" Jimmy's dad said, clapping his hands together.

"But…where am I supposed to be going?" Jimmy said, feeling a sickly sensation appear in his stomach.

"Well we're going to get you a bus to Viridian city" his dad said smiling at him "that's the city your mum was born in! From there you should probably head north through viridian forest to Pewter city and get your first badge". Jimmy had no idea where any of these places were, but nodded anyway.

"Well then, lets get going!" his mum said patting him on the shoulder "You look after him, that goes for both of you" she said gesturing to Jimmy and Sandshrew.

Jimmy sat at the bus station, his Sandshrew sat across his lap. He would have put it back in his pokéball, but he wasn't really sure how to do that. His mum and dad had walked off and left him. All he had was a rucksack full of rice and underwear, a wallet with very little money in, a green jacket, that clashed horribly with his red polo shirt and five pokéball to 'get him started'. Jimmy sighed and looked down at his Sandshrew.

"Well I suppose it's just you and me now"

"Shrew Shrew!" the Sandshrew responded. Jimmy nodded, though he had no idea what the creature had just said. Suddenly a bus pulled up and the door clicked open.

"Viridian City" the bus driver said, nodding at the Sandshrew. Jimmy nodded and stood up grabbing his bag. "yeah we have a lot of you lot, all off for their adventures" He reached over and stroked the Vulpix that sat next to him. Jimmy walked to the end of the bus. A few people, presumably his age sat around looking exited at this new adventure. He wished he could share that feeling. He sat down, placing his Sandshrew next to him, which nestled up next to him. Jimmy smiled at it, he was already quite fond of it. Suddenly the bus jerked into motion. Jimmy looked out of the window, at the life he was now leaving behind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two - A whole new city**

Jimmy lay across the seat of the bus, his eyes closed and a loud snore emitting from his mouth. His Sandshrew lay across his stomach, it was also fast asleep and snoring. A boy popped his head over the chair, he looked over and sniggered to himself. Lifting his arm, he threw a water bomb into Jimmy's face. Jimmy woke up spluttering and coughing. The boy looked down on him and laughed.

"Sorry did I wake the baby up" he sniggered to himself. Jimmy looked up and saw the laughing boy in front of him. The boy was about the same height as him, but had smooth blonde hair, with a pair of goggles similar to Jimmy's perched on his forehead.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" Jimmy said, pulling at his now soaked shirt.

"Oh I'm sorry" the boy sniggered, "did the little dweeb not like getting wet?"

"Seriously who the hell are you!" Jimmy yelled.

"Well if you must know" The boy said "I am Terry! And from this day on, I shall be your rival!", he stood up proudly, waving his blond hair swiftly. A girl behind him swooned. Jimmy stared at him for a moment.

"Umm, okay" he said after a while "So does that mean we're friends?"

"NO!" Terry shouted "It means that we are enemies! We will always compete with each other and become better trainers in doing so. Then eventually we will put our differences aside and become best friends". Jimmy looked at the boy with great confusion

"Couldn't we just skip all of that and become friends now?"

"Of course not!" Terry shouted "Why would I want to be friends with a dweeb like you?!"

"Well okay…" Jimmy said "Well I think I'll just keep out of your way then". Suddenly Terry froze. He looked at Jimmy with a look of horror.

"But…you're my rival" he said quietly.

"Well I don't really want to have you constantly trying to kick the crap out of me" Jimmy said, pulling his snoring Sandshrew onto his lap. Terry looked at the Sandshrew and suddenly regained his arrogant nature.

"You've only got a weak Sandshrew?!" he said loudly "I've got myself an awesome Squirtle, which is so much more rare than what you ha-"

"my mum started with a Squirtle" Jimmy said, with a smile "I hear it can become quite powerful". Terry once again looked at Jimmy with great confusion.

"But my pokémon is stronger than yours…" he said slowly.

"Well we've both only just began haven't we" Jimmy said with a shrug, "I doubt either of us will be very strong yet". Terry stared at him for a while.

"Can I get your number" he said to Jimmy, pulling out his mobile.

The journey to Viridian was very quiet from then on. Many people had drifted off to sleep whilst Terry had occupied himself with a very interesting colouring book given to him by his mum. Suddenly the city came into view. The buildings were larger than anything Jimmy had ever seen. The roads were busy and full of traffic whilst huge poster's for someone called Gary Oak, seemed to be posted on enormous billboards. The bus came to a stop at a large train station. Everyone on the bus began to file out with great excitement, ready to start their adventure. Terry walked out with two girls on his arm, both of them looking at admirably. Jimmy waited for everyone to leave. He looked out of the window and then down at his Sandshrew. He was now alone, with only his Sandshrew for company.

Walking through Viridian, Jimmy saw a constant stream of people rushing over to a large Pokémon centre. Obviously there were a lot of fighting around here.

"Hey you!" a voice shouted. Jimmy whipped around quickly to see a grown man dressed all in black, a large letter 'R' was imprinted on his shirt. The man looked down at him menacingly.

"Why don't you hand over your pokémon kid" he said, squinting at him. Jimmy looked up at this strange man, he registered the R on his shirt

"Well obviously the R on your shirt stands for retard" Jimmy said firmly "'cause there isn't a chance in hell that I'm giving you my pokémon".

"Well that's too bad" The man said, reaching into his pocket. Jimmy froze. What did he have? A knife? A gun? The man drew out a small pokémon. Jimmy suddenly relaxed. "If you're not gonna hand it over I guess we'll have to battle for it" the man said with a sneer. Jimmy looked at the man and then down at his Sandshrew.

"Umm actually, I think I'll pass" Jimmy said, turning around to walk away. The man stood dumbstruck for a moment.

"B-but you can't refuse to battle me!" the man said "It's against the rules". Jimmy turned around quickly and stared at the guy

"perhaps it is" he said "but I'm pretty sure trying to steal someone's pokémon is also against some sort of rule". The man stared at him for a second. Jimmy turned to walk away. Suddenly the man grabbed his arm. Within seconds he was grounded on the floor. Jimmy looked down to see Sandshrew pounding the crap out of the man. The man went to reach for his pokéball.

"Sandshrew get his hand" Jimmy shouted. Sandshrew looked and saw the man grasping for his pokéball, quickly he used poison sting which made the man scream and clutch his hand. "Sandshrew return!" Jimmy said quickly. Straight away Sandshrew jumped up onto Jimmy's shoulder.

"You little brat" the man gasped. Jimmy looked down at him and smiled

"I hope you've learned something today" he said "if you're gonna play dirty, don't expect the other guy to fight fair"

Jimmy arrived at the large pokémon centre. There were a large number of pink haired women standing behind the counters. From what Jimmy could make out, the pokéballs were put into the machine for like 5 seconds and the pokémon were then fully healed. The building was full of people, many were on the phone to their parents, others were in the café eating rice balls. Jimmy noticed a large sign that said "trading area". Jimmy had heard of this back in trainer school, the trainers used extremely complicated machines to trade the pokémon over to the other person. This all seemed entirely pointless when you could simply give the other person the pokéball, but that would obviously be too quick and easy.

Jimmy approached the counter to see the same nurse that lived in his village.

"Nurse joy?" he asked, looking at her with great confusion.

"Well yes, but probably not the one you know" she said in a worryingly high pitched voice. Jimmy decided not to question further, he was already confused enough as it was.

"I'd like to heal my Sandshrew he said, gesturing to his shoulder. The nurse nodded at him

"well just put it in it's pokéball and then pass him over to me" she said smiling at him.

"Oh right" Jimmy said, feeling Sandshrew's pokéball "I'm not entirely sure how to do that". A large sigh seemed to emerge from behind him

"Someone get this damn kid out of the way" A voice shouted.

"yeah we haven't got all day!" another said. Nurse joy looked at Jimmy and guestered to his pokeball

"Just push down on the top and say 'return'" Jimmy looked at his Sandshrew and pointed his pokeball at it.

"Return!" he shouted. A large lazer shot out and pulled Sandshrew into the ball. He then passed it over to the still smiling nurse

"FINALLY" a voice shouted from behind Jimmy.

"Hey shut the hell up!" Jimmy shouted back at him "I'm still new to this you dick head". The nurse passed the pokeball back to him.

"We hope to see you again" she said. These words struck Jimmy. What did she mean by that? She looked forward to his pokémon having the crap kicked out of it? He shook his head, he always read into things far too much.

Jimmy sat at the café drinking a vodka redbull, it's was now past 7 so it was beginning to get dark. The warm embrace of alcohol made him feel much more secure whilst also extremely light headed. He looked over at a group of girls, who all seemed to be wearing short skirts and high socks. They were all conversing about how awesome their pokémon are and how much 'cuter' their's were. Suddenly they stopped talking. It took Jimmy a second to register that they were now looking at him. Jimmy turned away quickly, paying as much attention as he could to the drink in front of him.

"Can we help you" Jimmy jumped out of his seat to see the group of girls now standing next to him. Jimmy looked up at them and attempted to smile

"You little pervert" one of them said "sitting alone like the little freak you are"

"Aww don't be so harsh on him" one of the younger looking girls said, "I think he's kind of cute". Jimmy felt all the blood rush to his face.

"I-" he began. Suddenly he was interrupted as a hand grabbed him by the shoulder.

"We've found you ya little rat" a voice said from behind him. Jimmy looked to see a white gloved hand gripping his shoulder. The girls looked on in horror. Jimmy reached into his pocket for him pokéball

"Don't even try it" The voice said "Move and Ekans here will have to give you a poison jab. Jimmy suddenly relaxed.

"Are you serious" he said, turning around to the guy. "Come on you're like twice my size and you're still going to leave it all to that crappy little Ekans you have there." The man looked completely taken aback.

"I- er-" he started, suddenly one of the girls reached into her pocket and drew out a pokéball

"Go Growlithe!" she shouted. A small Growlithe appeared from the pokéball, and leapt forward. The man, still taken aback by what Jimmy had said was unable to react fast enough. The Growlithe leapt forward and took down the Ekans. The man looked stunned at what had just happened.

"I suggest you get the hell out of here" the girl said. Jimmy looked up at her, she winked at him and returned her Growlithe. Her friends looked at her disapprovingly and walked away.

"Umm thanks I guess" Jimmy said quietly

"What the hell have YOU done to upset Team Rocket" she said quickly. Jimmy looked at her. She had long blue hair, bright green eyes and was wearing a short red dress.

"Don't I know you from somewhere" he said, finishing off his drink. The girl looked shocked and offended by this.

"How can you not remember me Jimmy! We were in the same classes! I used to have a massive crush on you!" Jimmy looked up at her and tilted his head.

"I'm sorry" he said "It's just difficult to remember after all the beatings, seriously I reckon I spent more time with my head pushed down the toilet than I did in class!" The girl looked at him and smiled

"Ah yeah, they used to call you the toilet brush, but you did fight back, I remember you broke Kyle's jaw, that was hilarious!" She said with a laugh, Jimmy looked up slowly.

"I was excluded from school for a month because of that" Jimmy said with a large frown.

"Yeah but he couldn't eat solid foods for six months!" she said with a giggle. Jimmy looked at her and attempted to remember her name. She looked familiar, she was a pretty girl, but a bit weird, obsessed with Stantler for some reason. He just couldn't put a face to a name.

"So, um, do you still like Stantler?" he said feebly.

"Oh I knew you remembered me!" She shouted, grabbing his hands. "You always noticed me didn't you? You always were looking at me, I know you were!". Jimmy began to feel a little uneasy. He looked up at her.

"I, er" he said looking down at his watch, it was now 7:20. "Umm haven't your friends gone" he said looking over at the space that they had stood in earlier.

"Oh yeah" she said looking back "Well they weren't really my friends, I only met them today". Jimmy nodded slightly.

"Well I reckon I'll be stopping here tonight" he said slowly. "I think it's a bit late to be out training." The girl nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, I'll be staying too, we have so much to catch up on!". Jimmy looked uneasy for a moment, but nodded anyway. He still couldn't remember what her name was. Maybe if he asked for her number, yeah, she'd have to put her name in as well!

"Umm would you like to give me your number" Jimmy said, reaching into his pocket. He grabbed his phone and passed it over to her. Suddenly her eyes filled with tears.

"You…Want…my number?" She said through floods of tears. Suddenly she grabbed him across the table and pulled him into a firm embrace. "I knew you felt the same Jimmy! I knew we were destined to be together forever". Jimmy suddenly felt a sick feeling in his stomach, what had he gotten himself into.

"Umm okay" he said pulling away "If you just want to put your number in-"

"It's 083" she began

"Wait, wait" Jimmy said quickly, "can you put it in yourself, I'm erm, pretty rubbish…at typing in number you know." She seemed to buy it, she grabbed his phone and started typing in the number.

"There you go" she said passing it back to him, Jimmy looked down at it, Sarah, that was it!

"Thanks Sarah" he said closing his phone quickly.

"No problem" she said smiling at him, "Of course you won't be needing it, we're gonna be spending so much time together!" Jimmy gulped heavily.

"Well um, I'm gonna get some sleep, I want to be up bright and early tomorrow." Jimmy said, attempting to stand. "Umm the rooms are free here right" he said feeling his heart sink.

"Yeah!" Sarah said quickly "But you have to book ahead, all the rooms will be taken now." Jimmy froze and bit his bottom lip

"I suppose I'll have to sleep on the chair or something."

"Or you can stay in my room" Sarah said, blinking flirtatiously "I have a room booked ahead, it's only one bed though-"

"Down here will be fine!" Jimmy said quickly, I don't want to disturb your sleep or anything…" Sarah looked at him for a moment and then giggled

"Such a gentleman" she said "and cute too, I can see us being very happy together". She ran over and kissed him on the cheek before running off up the stares. Jimmy walked over to the sofa, it was rather comfy, but not very warm. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pokéball.

"Go Sandshrew!" he shouted. Sandshrew leapt out and jumped into his arms. He was glad of the company, especially Sandshrew's. Tomorrow he would have to introduce Sandshrew to Sarah. He lay back and felt Sandshrew curl up on his chest. His eyes slowly closed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three - Battle outside Viridian Forest**

Jimmy lay snoring on the sofa, the last few days had really took it out of him and his major drinking problem probably wasn't helping either. Sandshrew lay twitching on his chest, he was remembering those days of freedom, before being thrust into some strange orb. Not that it was too bad. He was now well fed and wasn't in any danger of being attacked by predators.

Sarah crept through into the open centre. People seemed to have congregated around Jimmy, staring down at his snoring figure.

"Is he with you?" nurse Joy asked Sarah, with a large frown.

"Yeah, he's my boyfriend!" Sarah said enthusiastically. Suddenly Jimmy's eyes burst open.

"Wait, What?!" he said sitting up quickly. He stopped momentarily to stare at the surrounding people who all dispersed quickly to avoid embarrassment.

"I was just telling nurse joy about you and me!" Sarah said, grabbing Jimmy's hand. Jimmy stared back at her. He turned to Nurse Joy who appeared to be smirking at him.

"What time is it?" he said, wiping his tired eyes.

"It's 6:30!" Sarah said, with a large dramatic arm gesture. Jimmy looked at her and then slumped back down

"Come back in like 4 hours" he said resting his head against the arm of the sofa. Suddenly Jimmy felt a vice like grip on his ear.

"Come on Jimmy" Sarah said, dragging his struggling body out of the seat "we need to get to Viridian forest before it gets dark!"

"It still is dark!" Jimmy said, prising Sarah's hand off his ear "seriously, why do you want to get there so urgently?"

"We need to go there to get to Pewter city" Sarah said, pulling Jimmy to his feet again "Plus there'll be loads of rare pokémon in there!"

"I don't care!" Jimmy shouted "I'm not going!".

Jimmy sighed heavily, he stood in the streets of Viridian. There seemed to be no other people in sight.

"Now that wasn't so hard now was it" Sarah said, beaming at him. Jimmy gave a non-committal grunt and walked along glumly. The forest was a thirty minute walk, which would then be followed by more walking. He started to remember how he'd passed up on driving lessons for his 8th birthday, he was more interested in playing with Yu-Gi-Oh cards at them time and had no interest in driving. He shook his head, cursing his dark magician as he walked.

"I hear the forest is reeeeeaaaally scaaaaarey" Sarah said, shaking her arms around "Lots of creepy crawlies that jump out at you and land on your back!"

"Yeah I've heard of something like that" Jimmy said "There's this rare form of Wurmple that crawls into your colon and slowly eats away from the inside". Sarah stopped walking and stared at him, a terrified expression on her face.

"Th-that's horrible!" she said shaking her head madly "I bet it must be horribly painful!"

"I suppose" Jimmy said and then under his breath "the lucky bastards"

Jimmy and Sarah stood outside the gates of viridian forest. Even in the daylight it seemed to remain black. They stood staring for a while, not sure what to do. Officer Jenny stood by the gate and stared at them both.

"I hope you have plenty of potions and antidotes" she said to them.

"Of course I don't!" Jimmy said loudly "I'm not made of money you know!". Sarah looked at Jimmy for a second and giggled. "What?" Jimmy said, turning to her quickly.

"Nothing" she said "you're just so funny". Jimmy stared at her for a few seconds and then shook his head.

"Are we going in then?" he asked gesturing towards the gate.

"Not just yet" Sarah said "I think our pokémon need to meet each other first". She reached into her pocket and pulled out three pokéballs.

"Come on out guys!" she shouted, throwing the balls into the air. Jimmy looked on in shock. Three pokémon?! The figure of a Growlithe, a male Nidoran and a Spearow appeared on the ground. Sarah stared at Jimmy expectantly for a moment. "go on then". She said, gesturing towards his belt. Jimmy stared at her and tilted his head awkwardly.

"Umm, I only really have Sandshrew" he said, pointing at Sandshrew.

"Oh" Sarah said awkwardly "well, that's kind of cool".

"You still only have a Sandshrew!" came a smug voice from behind him. Jimmy turned around to see the smooth blonde haired boy walking over to him "I would have thought my ARCH RIVAL would be doing a little better". Sarah turned to Jimmy quickly.

"Jimmy, who is this?" she asked, a shocked expression on her face. Jimmy stared at the boy for a moment.

"Umm, I think his name is Simon or something" Jimmy said

"It's Terry!" The boy yelled back at him, a look of frustration on his face "and I challenge you to a one on one battle!" Jimmy looked him for a moment.

"No" he said, turning around to walk towards the day.

"W-what" Terry said, a look of great confusion on his face. "Y-you can't walk away from a challenge!"

"Watch me" Jimmy said, grabbing Sarah's arm "Come on Sarah".

"Officer Jenny tell him!" Terry whined towards the bored looking policewoman.

"Pokémon league rules dictate that no trainer can say no to a challenge unless all of their pokémon are incapacitated" she said, almost robotically.

"Fine!" Jimmy said, turning back around to Terry "Sarah, feel free to go on without me if you like"

"I'd never do that to you Jimmy, I'll never leave your side" Sarah said, loudly.

"Damn it" Jimmy whispered to himself.

"Come on!" Terry shouted, grabbing a ball out of his pocket.

"Alright!" Jimmy said, turning back to Terry. "So a one on one battle, first knockout wins?""Umm, no" Terry said with a smug grin "We'll use all of our pokémon until all are knocked out." Jimmy glared at Terry.

"You're a massive dick" he said.

The atmosphere suddenly dropped. Both trainers faced each other, staring into each others eyes. The wind blew gently against them, carrying dust across the ground. The two boys continued to glare at each other. A congregation had appeared around the two trainers. Young and old trainers watched enthusiastically. Jimmy furrowed his brow and took Sandshrew from his shoulder. Terry stared back at Jimmy and frowned back at him. Everything was silence.

"For god sake someone do something!" a voice shouted "we've been here for five bloody minutes!" Both Jimmy and Terry turned, only just noticing that they were now surrounded by people.

"Umm, what do we actually do?" Terry asked Jimmy.

"I'm not sure" Jimmy answered "I assumed you knew, I was going to copy you". a resounding groan went around the large congregation. Officer Jenny burst through the crowd.

"Okay it's very easy!" she said taking both of the boys to the side "Basically you both send out your pokémon and then tell them what attacks to use, once your pokémon gets knocked out, you send out another and keep doing this until you run out."

"Okay" both the boys said at the same time. Officer Jenny smiled at them both and then walked away.

"What did she say?" Terry asked Jimmy.

"I have no idea" Jimmy replied. "Sod it, just send your pokémon out and get them to fight."

"Yeah that sounds about right" Terry said.

The boys moved back to their battle space. Many people had lost interest and walked off. A few girls stood staring at Terry with hungry eyes. Sarah stood staring disapprovingly at the girls. She turned to see that Jimmy was staring at her. She waved to him and blew him a kiss.

"Dude, that girls hot" Terry said, staring at her. "If I win, I want her number".

"You're free to have it" Jimmy said "I don't really care, now let's get on with this battle! Sandshrew go!" Jimmy pointed forward. Sandshrew leapt out from by his feet onto the battleground. Terry looked down at Sandshrew, nodded and pulled out a Pokédex.

"Sandshrew" he said to himself "weak against water types".

"Hey that's cheating!" Jimmy yelled at him.

"No it isn't" Terry said smugly "The Pokédex is Pokémon league approved" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokéball. "Squirtle! I choose you!" Squirtle leapt out of the pokéball enthusiastically. Sandshrew glared at the Squirtle, which danced around excitedly.

"Sandshrew! Scratch attack!" Jimmy yelled, pointing towards the dancing Squirtle. Sandshrew leapt forward towards the Squirtle.

"Dodge and use bubble!" Terry yelled at his Squirtle. Sandshrew bore down on the Squirtle, which moved at the last minute. The Squirtle inhaled deeply and blasted out a load of bubbles. Sandshrew winced in pain and landed on the ground. He got up quickly and glared at the Squirtle

"Come on Sandshrew!" Jimmy yelled "he only blasted some bubbles at you, it was hardly a tidal wave" Sandshrew looked back at Jimmy. Jimmy wasn't sure, but he thought that it looked like Sandshrew was scowling at him.

"Now Squirtle! Finish him off with a water gun!" Terry yelled.

"Sandshrew, umm" Jimmy started, he didn't know what to do. Then he thought back to his battle with the member of team rocket. Sandshrew had stood up for him, he had struck with his claws, a poisonous strike. "Poison sting!" Jimmy yelled. Squirtle inhaled deeply, preparing it's attack, suddenly Sandshrew bore down on it, thrusting his poisonous claws forward. The Squirtle was sent flying backwards, squealing as it went.

"What the hell did you just do?!" Terry shouted. The Squirtle lay on the ground, it's body shaking.

"I think Sandshrew gave him tetanus" Jimmy said, tilting his head at the writhing Squirtle. Officer Jenny ran into the middle

"Squirtle is unable to battle" She shouted "Sandshrew wins!" The congregation cheered. Jimmy's heart jumped violently. He had won his first pokémon battle, maybe this wasn't such a hard journey, maybe he could actually enjoy thi-

"Hang on!" Terry yelled "I still have two Pokémon left!"

"Crap" Jimmy said to himself.

Jimmy sat in the Pokémon centre. Sandshrew lay across his legs in a deep slumber. Sarah sat next to Jimmy, stroking his arm.

"Don't worry about it" she said "You'll get him back next time".

"I don't want to talk about it" Jimmy said

"Hey" Sarah said, patting his shoulder "You've still got me".

"Great" Jimmy said leaning his head forward. "So shall we get some lunch or something?". Sarah turned to him and smiled.

"Well it's only 11am" she said with a giggle "But I don't see why we don't get some brunch."

"Aww a loser's meal?" came the smug voice from behind them. "I wonder what it will taste like, defeat perhaps." Jimmy turned and looked at Terry's smug face. "You know…because you lost". Jimmy said nothing, he just patted Sandshrew on the back. Sarah however stood up quickly

"This is only the beginning!" she shouted at him "Jimmy will wipe the floor with you one day!" Terry stared at Sarah and smiled

"What are you doing with this loser" he said, walking over and taking her hand "Wouldn't you rather hang out with a WINNER". Sarah pulled her hand away and glared at Terry.

"Jimmy is twice the man you will ever be isn't that right Jim-" she turned around. Jimmy had gone.

"What was that you were saying" Terry said smugly.

Jimmy sat at the bar, it was still morning so he was only on the WKD. Sandshrew sat next to him looking disapproving.

"Shrew, Shrew" he said to him.

"Hardly!" Jimmy said "It was hardly a fair fight!

"Sand, shrew shrew" Sandshrew said.

"Not at all!" Jimmy shouted "Seriously he's just a dick we shouldn't have bothered".

"Shrew sand shrew" Sandshrew said, looking down sadly.

"It's not your fault!" Jimmy said, patting Sandshrew on the back "It's my fault for not catching more pokémon".

"You know, the ability to understand what your pokémon is saying shows a great bond between trainer and Pokémon" Sarah sat down next to Jimmy "It shows your really developing as a trainer-"

"-I have no idea what he's saying" Jimmy said quickly "I'm just trying to convince myself". Sarah placed a hand on Jimmy's shoulder.

"You're a tough guy, you'll only grow stronger from this experience" She said. Jimmy looked up at her and nodded.

"Shall we get off then" Jimmy said, feeling a surge of defiance.

"Well by the time we get there it's going to be beginning to get dark" Sarah said "we could always rent a room together-"

"No!" Jimmy said quickly "I'm not sticking around here for any longer. People are already laughing at me, the city's a mess and it's 200 poké-dollars for a pint!".

"Okay then" Sarah said, smiling at him "I suppose it won't be so scary in the dark when I'm with you". Jimmy nodded at her and quickly finished off his drink.

Jimmy and Sarah stood outside the gates of Viridian Forest. Ignoring the smirk on Officer Jenny's face he walked over to the gate. He turned to Sarah and nodded at her. She nodded back at him. He slowly pushed open the gate and walked on through.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four - Entering the forest**

**All was dark. The air was moist and humid, like a sweaty blanket being wrapped around your face. Jimmy stepped forwards slowly, feeling Sarah gripping to his arm. Sticks snapped underneath their feet and rustling could be around them.**

"**I can't see a thing!" Sarah whispered to Jimmy, gripping onto his arm.**

"**Why are you whispering" Jimmy said with a raised voice "It's not that danger-" Suddenly something collided into Jimmy's chest, he fell back winded, coughing violently. Sarah began to scream, running around blindly. Jimmy lay on the ground, listening to Sarah's shrill yell. Whatever had collided with him had gone now. **

"**Oh god oh god oh god!" Sarah shouted, trampling around Jimmy. Jimmy didn't say anything for a moment. He suddenly had a thought, he could sneak away now, leave her in this dark wood. He shook away this thought, she'd only find him again.**

"**I'm alright" he said hoarsely, struggling to draw in his breath. **

"**Where are you Jimmy?" Sarah shouted wildly "Where are you?!".**

"**I'm down here" said Jimmy, wincing as Sarah trod on his crotch. Sarah looked down and grabbed at his body.**

"**Get up you silly thing" she said, pulling him up off the floor "what happened to you?".**

"**I'll tell you what happened" said a voice from behind them. Suddenly the area around them was bathed in light. Jimmy and Sarah squinted against it, looking for the source of the voice. "You weren't prepared is what happened". Jimmy's eyes began to adjust to the light. The forest around them came into view. The ground was covered in damp leaves whilst the trees towered over them in an almost intimidating manner. A large amount of paths went off in different directions, each with their own dark and uninviting location. Jimmy turned to find the source of the light. A strange glowing insect flapped above the head of a short trainer. The trainer stood with a net over his shoulder. He wore a blue vest and a pair of blue shorts. His black hair hung underneath the rim of a large hat. Jimmy stared at him for a moment, suppressing a smirk.**

"**Thank you so much" Sarah said suddenly, running over to the stranger "We didn't know it'd be so dark". The stranger looked at Sarah and blushed.**

"**It's nothing" he said, looking down at the floor. Jimmy stared up at the glowing insect.**

"**What's that thing?" he asked, gesturing towards it. The stranger seemed to have temporarily forgotten Jimmy was there and gave a small jump. He then looked up at the glowing creature.**

"**That's my Butterfree" he said, waving towards it affectionately. Jimmy stared up at the strange creature.**

"**Is it meant to be glowing like that" he said, taking a slight step back.**

"**It's using flash you noob" the stranger said, smirking to himself. Jimmy raised an eyebrow. That was possibly the nerdiest insult that he had ever heard. Sarah was looking up in awe at the Butterfree.**

"**It's so pretty!" she said, clapping her hands together. The stranger turned to her suddenly, sliding a hand down the back of his head.**

"**Yeah, I raised her from a Caterpie, I only started my adventure a few days ago, but I already have 4 pokémon in their final evolutions!" **

"**Wow!" Sarah said, clapping her hands together "You must be a really strong trainer to manage that in such a short space of time".**

"**Well I don't know about strong" the stranger said "Perhaps brave may be a better-"**

"**Tell me, what type of pokémon do you have?" Jimmy interrupted.**

"**Well, that's not really important" the stranger said **

"**No, no, tell us" Jimmy said, smirking to himself "What type of pokémon does this hot shot trainer collect".**

"**Don't be silly" Sarah said "No one collects one type of pokémon, it would put them at a massive disadvantage". Jimmy smirked to himself again. He had heard of these people, they usually came from the villages near the woods, they specialised in training bug pokémon and very little else. **

"**I, er" The stranger said weakly. **

"**You're a bug catcher aren't you" Jimmy said. The stranger turned to him**

"**No!" he said definitely "I am a bug master!" Both Jimmy and Sarah looked unimpressed. "Whatever!" he said walking past them both "I can't see you two doing any better without any light". He began to walk away, leaving Jimmy and Sarah in the dark.**

"**Wait!" Sarah said, running over him. "I like bug pokémon, they're really cool"**

"**They ARE aren't they!" the stranger said, turning around to talk to her. Jimmy sighed and walked over to the two of them.**

"**Perhaps we should properly introduce ourselves" Sarah said, grinning at the two boys "My name is Sarah and I'm on an adventure with my boyfriend Jimmy". The stranger turned to Jimmy. He mouthed "boyfriend?" at him. Jimmy shook his head slowly. The stranger nodded and turned to Sarah.**

"**Well my name is Kevin, I come from Viridian city and come from a long line of bug catchers!", Jimmy suppressed his laughter and nodded accordingly. Sarah looked at both Jimmy and Kevin and beamed.**

"**Now we can carry on with this adventure together!" she said, clapping enthusiastically. Kevin smiled in approval whilst Jimmy merely nodded. "So, umm, where do we go from here?" Sarah asked, looking at the various cross roads.**

"**Don't worry, just follow me" Kevin said, walking towards one of the narrower paths "I know this forest like the back of my hand.**

**After walking in circles for three straight hours, Jimmy began to feel that Kevin might not have as good a idea of where he was going as he made out. On the upside however, they had not been attacked by any over aggressive wild pokémon and hadn't encountered any members of team rocket. Jimmy felt this was a lot to thank for and felt he could get used to this whole lost in a deserted wood situation.**

"**Right" said Kevin, firmly "I think we now go down that path" he pointed towards a large bramble bush.**

"**That doesn't look like much of a path" Sarah said, looking at the large prickly bush.**

"**Yeah, just over that push is a path direct to Pewter city, I promise you" Kevin said, walking over to the bush. The three of them squealed and swore as the pointy brambles scraped and scratched their skin. After making it over they reached an opening.**

"**There it is" Kevin said pointing towards the gate. "I told you I knew where I was going". The three of them walked towards the gate and slowly pushed it open.**

**Officer Jenny stood smirking at the three of them**

"**Back so soon?" she said, staring at their muddy clothing.**

"**Okay, I may have taken a wrong turn at some point" Kevin said, biting his lip slightly.**

"**You are aware maps are available in the gift shop" Officer Jenny said, still smirking smugly "along with flash lights if you need them". Sarah seemed to be close to tears. Jimmy looked up at officer Jenny**

"**Do you have a bar?" he asked.**

**Jimmy sat at the bar, drinking a triple vodka and redbull. The absence of alcohol had almost brought him to a state of sobriety. Kevin came and sat next to him. He slapped his hand on the table**

"**Orange squash please" he said to the barkeeper, who nodded and poured him out a small glass. Kevin took a sip and turned to Jimmy. "Sorry about that" he said "I used to know that forest so well".**

"**Don't worry about it" Jimmy said, tilting back his full glass and downing the content, "I'm in no real rush to get anywhere".**

"**I suppose so" Kevin said "I kind of feel bad about Sarah though, she seemed quite upset".**

"**Ah well, I'm sure she'll be fine" Jimmy said, ordering up another vodka redbull.**

"**So, erm, you and her" Kevin said feebly "She like, likes you, but I get the feeling that you don't-"**

"**I don't get why she likes me" Jimmy said quickly "To be honest with you I find it quite scary, I don't think I'm really ready to be looking for a girlfriend, hell I don't think I should be allowed to be drinking!". Kevin nodded feebly, and sipped at his orange juice. Suddenly Sarah appeared behind them both, she seemed to be panting slightly.**

"**I got us a map!" she said quickly, waving a piece of card at them. "We can get back on track now!". Kevin looked overjoyed and leapt up straight away. Jimmy finished his drink and stood up, feeling his head spinning slightly.**

"**Hey you have to pay for that" the bar keeper said "That'll be 2300 poké-dollars". Jimmy reached into his pocket and looked into his empty wallet. He looked up at the barkeeper and smiled.**

"**Let's get moving!" he said, grabbing Kevin and Sarah's arms and running out of the door.**

**After outrunning the angry bar man and a very confused looking Officer Jenny, the three youths found themselves in the darkness of viridian forest. Kevin's Butterfree hovered in the sky, illuminating their path. Jimmy stood in a daze, feeling sick and dehydrated (remember kids, alcohol may make you look cool and give you an awesome feeling, but it also has negative side effects). Kevin opened up the map and examined it carefully. **

"**Oh" he said raising one hand "We're supposed to go down that path", he pointed at the largest and most open path. Jimmy nodded and struggled to keep his balance. Sarah walked on ahead and let out a scream. A Weedle appeared in front of her, thrusting it's head forward aggressively. She let out a loud scream and backed away.**

"**Do not fear!" Kevin yelled throwing a pokéball forward "Weedle help us out!" the pokéball split open, revealing a small Weedle that leapt in front of Sarah, who screamed again and ran behind Jimmy. Kevin looked shocked and confused.**

"**Umm….Weedle Poison Sting!" He said, pointing towards the opposing Weedle. Kevin's Weedle leapt forward, it's sting pointing aggressively. The other Weedle was struck by the blow, but recovered quickly. The wild Weedle fired a mass of gooey string over Kevin's Weedle that was unable to move. The wild Weedle charged forward, gathering speed as it went.**

"**For god sake!" Jimmy said, reaching for his pocket "Sandshrew sort this idiot out", Jimmy threw the Pokéball across the forest, Sandshrew emerged from the ball and landed just in front of Weedle's sting. He took the blow but recovered quickly. "Sandshrew scratch attack!" Jimmy yelled, feeling sobriety finally returning. Sandshrew leapt forwards his claws swishing violently. The Weedle was struck and flew into a tree.**

"**Quick throw a pokéball!" Kevin shouted at Jimmy, his arms flailing around madly. **

"**Erm, no" Jimmy said looking down at the unconscious insect, "I'm not really a bug pokémon guy, I like my Pokémon to, you know, do some damage". Kevin stood looking shocked and offended. Sarah looked overjoyed at what had just happened.**

"**Wow Jimmy, Sandshrew is so awesome!" She said, dancing on the spot. Jimmy looked back at her and shook his head**

"**Would it have killed you to send your OWN pokémon out?" he asked. Sarah stopped dancing, she looked disappointed with herself.**

"**I'm sorry Jimmy" she said, looking down at the ground "I just panicked…". Jimmy looked up at her sad face, he felt guilty, he didn't need to be so harsh with her.**

"**It doesn't matter" he said, smiling at her "I only reacted when I did because Kevin acted so fast". Kevin looked up at the sound of his name. Jimmy seemed to be smiling at him. He smiled back and nodded. This experience seemed to bring the 3 of them closer together. **

**As they travelled through the forest they encountered many wild Caterpie and Weedle and the occasional Metapod and Kakuna, which the three of them took joy in repeatedly bashing until they went down. It was in an especially muddy corner of the forest that they heard the voice of something that wasn't a pokémon. **

"**Hey you!" the voice shouted across from them. The three of them turned to see a young boy. He was wearing similar clothes to Kevin, only in bright red. **

"**Neil!" Kevin hissed, turning around and glaring at the opposing figure. **

"**I thought I'd find you here" Neil said smirking at him "You seem to spend a lot of your time knee deep in shi-"**

"**Okay" Jimmy interrupted quickly "I have no idea who you are, or why you are wearing almost identical clothes to Kevin, but no one insults my friend like that!" Kevin turned to Jimmy, looking at him gleefully.**

"**You see me as a friend?" He said, holding his hands together.**

"**Damn right I do" Jimmy said defiantly, now glaring at the stranger "and I don't let any insults towards my friends go unpunished"**

"**Aww, does little Kevin need his friend to fight his pokémon battles for him?" Neil said in an extremely patronising voice.**

"**Who said anything about Pokémon" Jimmy said, stepping forward "I'm just plain gonna kick the crap out of you", he ran forward his fist raised. Both Kevin and Sarah grabbed his arms and pulled him back.**

"**That's the alcohol talking" Sarah said, struggling against Jimmy's skinny arms.**

"**This is my battle" Kevin whispered to Jimmy "Seriously, let me take this". Jimmy relaxed and took a step back.**

"**Alright" Jimmy said to Kevin "erm, I think I need to sit down". Jimmy went over to a nearby tree to throw up. Kevin stared at Neil **

"**So what do you say?" Neil said, smirking "Fight until knockout?". Kevin nodded in confirmation. **

**The battle seemed to go on forever. After both of the boys had managed to get their Caterpies and Weedles, followed by their Butterfrees to knock each other out, they were stuck with their Metapods fixed in a heated battle.**

"**Metapod! Harden!" Kevin shouted, the Metapod seemed to lay motionless.**

"**Oh yeah!" Neil shouted "Metapod you show him how WE harden!", his Metapod also appeared to do nothing.**

"**Umm guys" Sarah said, holding the now sleeping Jimmy in her arms, "your pokémon have been hardening for just over two hours now, perhaps you'd like to use a different move".**

"**What do you know you stupid girl!" Neil shouted pointing at Sarah**

"**How dare you talk to her like that!" Kevin shouted "Metapod, teach him a lesson! Use Harden!". The battle continued on like this for three more hours. Suddenly there was a cracking sound. Kevin looked at his Metapod, a large crack seemed to have appeared in it's outer shell.**

"**Ahaha!" Neil laughed loudly "Looks like your Metapod just couldn't cut it!". Kevin looked at his Metapod, there was a sudden light emitting from the crack.**

"**I wouldn't be laughing so early if I were you" Kevin said with a smile. The Metapod burst, revealing a shining Butterfree. Kevin grinned and pointed at Neil's Metapod "Butterfree! Use confusion!", the Butterfree blasted a psychic wave forward, knocking, the Metapod backwards across the field. There was a loud crash and the Metapod lay motionless (well more so than it did before). Jimmy woke up with a start and stared at the two panting trainers.**

**He looked at Kevin, who seemed to be smiling smugly to himself.**

"**I suppose you won then".**

**After collecting half of Neil's money and leaving him to scurry away unprotected by his pokémon, Kevin seemed to be very pleased with himself. **

"**I beat him!" he said, with a slight skip in his step "He's been my rival since we were babies and I finally beat him", Jimmy wondered how babies could have a rivalry but decided not to question it.**

"**You did so well!" Sarah said, clapping her hands happily "and now you have two beautiful Butterfrees!"**

"**Yeah Metapod really came through for me" Kevin said, happily gesturing to his second Butterfree, that flapped happily behind him.**

"**Well they say that it's the tightest situations that your pokémon really come through for you!" Sarah said, letting the Butterfree land on her arm. **

"**What about you Jimmy?" Kevin asked him feebly "What did you think of the battle"**

"**It was alright" Jimmy said, with little enthusiasm "Could have hurried it up a bit though". Kevin looked slightly taken aback by this.**

"**Oh don't listen to him" Sarah said smirking at Jimmy "He's just jealous because his rival wiped the floor with him".**

"**He's not my rival!" Jimmy shouted, throwing his arms in the air "He's just some weird kid that has some sort of grudge against me!"**

"**Yeah that's pretty much all a rival is" Kevin said, nodding knowledgably. **

"**Whatever" Jimmy said, with a yawn "Where the hell are we anyway?". Kevin looked down at his map and smiled**

"**The entrance to Pewter should be just around this corner!" he said, leading them down a small path. Jimmy walked ahead, turning around the corner, there it was, the gate to Pewter city.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five - Pewter City's Pride

Jimmy pushed the gate open, feeling the cold air pushing against his face, Sarah and Kevin came shortly after him, smiling at the sunlight that shone on their face.

"You three again?" A voice said, from next to them. Jimmy's heart froze. He turned to see a smirking Officer Jenny staring down at them. "you managed to get yourself lost again?". Jimmy stared up at her, feeling the blood drain from his face.

"You mean, you mean?" he started, feeling his body shake slightly.

"JUST KIDDING!" Officer Jenny yelled, laughing enthusiastically "Sorry, it's just something we like to do with the newbies". Jimmy stared at her for a second, unable to decide what to believe.

"So, this is Pewter city?" he said, staring intently at her.

"Yes, this is Pewter city" officer Jenny said, patting him on the head. Jimmy stared at her for a second.

"and I thought your sister was a bitch" he said spitefully.

Jimmy and Kevin sat in the Pokémon centre. Both of them were extremely tired and hungry. Jimmy's stomach let out a loud rumble.

"Shall we go get something to eat?" Kevin asked, gesturing to the café. Jimmy smiled at him and shook his head

"I don't really have any money" he said "I sort of spent it all.

"You managed to spend all your money!" Kevin said, looking shocked.

"Well I lost half of it to Terry" Jimmy said glumly "and the rest of it, well, the bar doesn't really pay for itself". Jimmy reached into his bag and pulled out a rice ball. He chewed the corner of it and grimaced.

"does it taste bad?" Kevin asked, looking at Jimmy's disgusted face.

"No" Jimmy said, putting the rice ball back in his bag "It tastes like rice". Kevin, nodded and leant back on his chair, a sudden thought struck him.

"Where's Sarah?" he asked

* * *

Sarah crawled through the undergrowth, determined to find what she was looking for. They were meant to inhabit this part of the forest. Suddenly she saw it. The yellow fur and the red cheeks. She approached it slowly, not wanting to startle it. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an empty pokéball. If she took it off guard she wouldn't have to do anything. She jumped up, throwing the pokéball at the unsuspecting pokémon.

* * *

Jimmy sat on his own in the middle of the pokémon centre. Kevin had gone to get his pokémon healed. Alone with his thoughts he stared off into space. He was so far away from home.

"You look really out of it" a voice said from next to him. Jimmy jumped and turned to find someone was sitting next to him. A young man sat next to him. He had black pointy hair, dark skin and almost entirely closed eyes.

"Umm" Jimmy said, note entirely sure why this strange man was talking to him.

"So I suppose you're here to battle Pewter City's gym leader" The stranger said, smiling at him. Jimmy looked at the stranger and laughed.

"Not really" he said "to be honest with you, this whole battling thing isn't really my thing". The stranger frowned at him.

"B-but you're a trainer" he said "You're meant to want to beat every gym leader to become the very best".

"Don't be stupid" Jimmy said "Being the best isn't everything and there'll always be someone better than you. The stranger nodded.

"Well what if I were to tell you" The stranger said "That I am Brock of Pewter city!", he stood up proudly at this statement, assuming that Jimmy would marvel at his brilliance.

"Cool" Jimmy said. Brock looked down at him, apparently taken aback.

"B-but I'm the gym leader" he said, obviously offended by Jimmy's lack of interest.

"Yeah" Jimmy said casually "that's cool, I'm Jimm-"

"You don't understand!" Brock interrupted "I am Brock, I am the pride of Pewter city!", Jimmy looked at him for a moment and laughed.

"You have a massive ego" he said. Brock frowned at him. Suddenly Jimmy heard a loud gasp and the sound of running feet.

"Jimmy! Jimmy! How do you know Brock!" Kevin said, running over to the both of them. Brock looked happy with this response.

"I dunno he just started talking to me" Jimmy said. Kevin and Brock both collapsed on the floor.

* * *

The ball struck the back of Pikachu's head, but simply bounced off. Sarah looked shocked. The Pikachu whipped around and glared at her, it looked mad.

"Umm, n-nice Pikachu" she said, backing away from the angry looking creature.

"Yeah he doesn't like pokéballs" a voice said from behind her. Sarah turned around quickly. A trainer stood in front of her. He wore a red and white hat over his scruffy black hair . He wore a blue jacket over a black T-shirt . On his hands he wore a pair of bright green biker gloves. "Pikachu return" he shouted. The Pikachu nodded and jumped onto his trainer's shoulder. Sarah looked at him, blushing slightly and failing to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry if Pikachu scared you" he said walking over to her "but he's really quite nice really, aren't you Pikachu".

"Pi-Pikachu" Pikachu said with great content.

"W-well I w-was looking for one of m-my own" Sarah stuttered, looking down at the trainers shoes.

"Ah well they're pretty rare around here" the trainer said, smiling at her "I started with Pikachu, so I suppose I'm quite lucky". Sarah blinked silently and nodded. "Well I'm heading to Pewter city" the trainer said, beginning to walk away "I have an old friend I want to speak to". Sarah watched as the trainer walked past her.

"W-wait" she said quickly "I'll go with you, I need to meet up with some people as well". The trainer smiled at her and nodded.

"Pi-Pika" Pikachu said scornfully.

* * *

Jimmy stood outside the entrance of Viridian forest. He had left Kevin with that peculiar gym leader and gone off to look for Sarah. Pushing the gate open, he walked into the dark forest.

This section of the forest was a lot lighter than the rest of it, there was no need for any torches (which was lucky as he'd failed to take one with him). As he crept through the woods he heard the sounds of rustling through the trees. Jimmy felt a shiver run down his spine. He had felt so much safer with Kevin and Sarah, he felt venerable and alone. Suddenly he heard a rustling behind him. He whipped around quickly, reaching for his belt, ready to face whatever it was.

* * *

Sarah walked alongside the strange trainer, looking admiringly up at him. He was slightly older than Jimmy and seemed to have much more confidence. The Pikachu that sat on his back seemed to adore him.

"So when did you start your adventure" The trainer said, smiling at Sarah.

"About a month ago" she said timidly, feeling the blood run to her face "I wanted to make sure I had the pokémon I needed before I got ahead of myself". The trainer nodded.

"I remember my first day as a trainer" he said, reaching round to stroke Pikachu's ear. "I'd always dreamed of being the best, like no one ever was". Sarah looked at the trainer, he looked a bit like Jimmy, but their personalities seemed completely different. This trainer was full of confidence, ready to face anything, Jimmy only ever thought of staying in bed and drinking. Sarah and her companion reached the opening of the forest. A figure stood still, breathing heavily.

* * *

Jimmy stood panting, what a rush, what a feeling.

"Jimmy?" A voice came from one of the paths. Jimmy looked up and saw Sarah standing in front of him accompanied by a strange youth.

"I came looking for you" Jimmy said, looking awkwardly at the stranger "You'd been gone a long time". Sarah looked at him. Jimmy was expecting her to run over and hug him, but she merely nodded and stood next to the stranger.

"Umm, who's he?" Jimmy said, gesturing to the strange trainer. The trainer stepped forward.

"My name is Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town" he said defiantly. Sarah gasped at this, but Jimmy was none the wiser.

"Oh right" Jimmy said "and how do you know Sarah?"

"Jimmy!" Sarah shouted "Don't know who you're talking to?!" Jimmy looked at Ash, who smiled back at him.

"Well I thought I'd have a bit of a reputation by now" Ash said, smiling at Jimmy "I was one of the finalists in the pokémon league"

"Oh right" Jimmy said, nodding slightly "Didn't win though". The smile disappeared from Ash's face.

"It's not about winning" Ash said proudly "It's about that bond that you share with your pokémon"

"Yeah I get that" Jimmy said "But how can you be seen as a celebrity if you didn't even win?".

Ash smiled and stared into Jimmy's eyes. "Perhaps you'd like to settle this with a little battle."

Jimmy stood facing Ash, reaching towards his pokéball.

"Hang on" he said quickly "How is this fair? You've been training for a hell of a lot longer than I have, I'm not going to stand a chance". Ash laughed and nodded at him.

"My pokémon won't be much stronger than yours" he said "The only pokémon that I keep with me always is Pikachu, I'll give you a chance to fight some of my newer acquaintances". Ash reached into his pocket and grabbed a pokéball.

"Electrike I choose you!" the pokéball bounced off the floor leaving what looked like a green dog, standing on the field". Jimmy looked over to Sarah, who shrugged at him. "I picked it up from Hoenn" Ash said smiling at him "They have a lot of rare and new pokémon over there". Jimmy looked at the green dog and pondered. It's green, so it might be a grass type, but wait, what had he called it again. He screwed up his face in concentration and reached into his pocket.

"Sandshrew go!" he shouted. Sandshrew emerged from the pokéball with great enthusiasm, flailing his arms around aggressively.

"Nice move" Ash said, rearranging his cap "You knew that Electrike would be weak against ground attacks".

"Y-yeah!" said Jimmy quickly, feeling his heart race. "Sandshrew! Scratch attack!" Sandshrew leapt forward towards the Electrike. Ash stood still, staring at the charging Sandshrew.

"Electrike! Quick attack!" he said sharply. Sandshrew came bearing down on the Electrike, which moved quickly and head butted Sandshrew in the Stomach. Sandshrew was thrown backwards but jumped back up quickly. "you're not making full use of your Sandshrew's abilities" Ash said calmly "You have the advantage in this fight, you should use it". Jimmy looked up, unable to decide what to do. "Electrike, head butt" Ash said calmly. Electrike came flying towards Sandshrew.

"Sandshrew use - umm" Jimmy started, in a split second, Sandshrew was sent hurtling across the ground.

"You need to make quicker decisions!" Ash shouted "It isn't just Sandshrew fighting, you have to do it too". Jimmy looked down at Sandshrew, who was getting back up again. Ash was right, it wasn't just up to Sandshrew, it was up to him as well.

"Electrike!" Ash shouted "Thunderbol-"

"Sandshrew use Sand attack!" Jimmy shouted quickly. Sandshrew reached into the ground, throwing sand across Electrike's face. The Electrike seemed to lose concentration for a moment. "Now Sandshrew!" Jimmy shouted "Use mud slap" Sandshrew came behind the bedazzled Electrike, and threw a load of mud across it's body. The weight of the mud suppressed Electrike's electrical flow. "Now Sandshrew!" Jimmy shouted.

"Electrike return" Ash shouted quickly. The Electrike returned to it's pokéball quickly.

"Hey what the hell!" Jimmy shouted "I was so gonna beat you then".

"Yeah you were" Ash said smiling at him "so it wasn't worth you knocking Electrike out was it?" Jimmy looked at him for a moment.

"One more round" he said suddenly. Ash raised his eyebrows.

"I wouldn't put your Sandshrew through anymore just yet" he said smiling at the panting Sandshrew.

"Not against Sandshrew!" Jimmy shouted "Against the Pokémon I just caught!". Sarah gasped. Ash simply shook his head.

"No Jimmy" he said smiling at him "A newly caught pokémon needs time to heal before it can fight, believe me, I found out the hard way". He walked over to Jimmy and reached into his wallet. "I think I owe you something".

As they arrived back at Pewter city Pokémon centre Jimmy saw Kevin chatting away with a very bored looking Brock. Ash stood behind Jimmy, he didn't say anything, he only smiled. Brock looked up and saw Ash. A smile appeared across his face and he stood up quickly.

"Ash?!" he said, running over to him "Is it really you?" Ash looked down at himself and then back at Brock

"Well I can't say I've changed too much" he said, smiling back at him. Brock pulled Ash into a close embrace. Jimmy, Kevin and Sarah stood awkwardly. The hug seemed to go on forever, both Ash and Brock stroking each other's backs as they did it. Sarah turned to Jimmy with a look of horror on her face.

"I'm sure they're just really good friends" Jimmy reassured her. Upon hearing this both Ash and Brock instantly pulled apart. Brock stepped towards Jimmy and stared at him

"So, I suppose you are prepared to battle the full might of the Pewter city gym?!" Jimmy looked at Brock and shook his head

"To be honest, I'd rather not if it's all the same to you". Sarah's face dropped at this. Ash looked at her and then approached Jimmy.

"Hey Jimmy, can I talk to you a second".

Ash and Jimmy walked out the doors of the Pokémon centre, leaving Brock to the mercy of Kevin's pestering.

"Look Jimmy" Ash said quickly "You might not think we have a lot in common, but we really do". Jimmy looked at Ash and shook his head.

"We really don't" he said simply "You were probably well prepared for this adventure, prepared for the new world you were to explore. I was just never ready for it and I'm still not".

"I'm sorry but that's utter crap" Ash said quickly. Jimmy looked up, obviously taken aback. "I saw how you battled with Sandshrew, you and him were a team out there, all you need is a push in the right direction. Your urge to be better is within you, you've just got to stop suppressing it and have a little fun for gods sake!". Jimmy looked up at him and grimaced.

"So, What? You want me to battle Brock?" He said , looking back at Brock's bored face.

"I want you to follow your true dream" Ash said, placing his hand on Jimmy's shoulder. "You might not think you're ready for this, but you are, hell you've got two friends ready to support you through this and believe me, with two good friends beside you, you can go a long way." Ash turned towards the pokémon centre and walked back through. Jimmy stared down and the ground. What was it he had been holding back all of this time. He reached into his pocket. The new pokémon, the new addition to his team. He got such a rush from catching it, was this what being a trainer was all about?"

Jimmy walked back into the Pokémon centre. Everyone seemed to be gathered around Ash.

"What's happening" Jimmy said, looking up at Ash.

"I'm moving on now" He said smiling back at him "I'm off to Cerulean city to see an old friend". He turned to Brock and gave him one final hug. He then turned to Sarah, who blushed wildly as she was pulled into his embrace. He nodded at Kevin, who appeared to be too distracted by Brock to have taken any notice of his presence. Finally he turned back to Jimmy. Jimmy smiled as he took Ash's hand. They both nodded to each other. Ash walked past towards the door and waved his goodbye. Jimmy found himself waving back. Suddenly a thought rushed into his mind

"Hey Ash" he shouted. Ash stopped and turned around "Can I get your mobile number?" Ash smiled at him "Don't worry Jimmy" he said "I'm pretty sure you'll be seeing me again", he turned around again and walked off into the distance.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Brock's folly.

Dust flew through the air, colliding into the massive boulders that filled the area. Jimmy placed his hands in front of his eyes, attempting to hold back the onslaught of rocks and gravel. He slid his go-go goggles over his eyes and walked forwards.

"Have you quite finished showing off?!" He shouted. Suddenly the dust and rocks settled and the room cleared. Brock stood next to his Onix looking rather taken aback. Sarah crawled out from behind a boulder, dragging behind her a gagging Kevin. Jimmy took his goggles off and slipped them into his bag.

"You took it just as I expected" Brock said smiling across at Jimmy "You're a brave guy Jimmy, a brave guy". Jimmy raised his eyebrows and turned to Kevin.

"Is he alright?" He asked Sarah, staring down at the choking Kevin.

"He's asthmatic" she said, passing Kevin his inhaler. Brock looked down at Kevin with a look of shock on his face.

"Ooooh, my bad" he said, biting his lip "Is he alright?".

"He'll be fine" Jimmy said calmly. "Now are we going to battle or what?" Brock smiled at Jimmy, his new found confidence was obvious. Jimmy was confident, fearless and most of all, sober.

"Are you ready for me to rock your world Jimmy!" Brock shouted, raising his arm to the sky. Jimmy raised an eyebrow.

"I really hope you mean have a pokémon battle" he said, backing away slightly.

Sandshrew stood on Jimmy's shoulder staring onto the dusty battle field. There was so much dust and so many rocks, he would be in his element. He turned to his trainer who smiled at him and pointed towards the ground. With a swift movement Sandshrew had leapt off Jimmy's shoulder and landed on the hard floor below. He looked ahead at Onix, it's tail bashing around the arena. The Onix was at least ten times it's size and seemed to be crushing boulders bigger than him. Sandshrew knew he needed to trust in his trainer's judgement, even if it did mean being knocked out cold.

Jimmy looked down at Sandshrew with concentration. He could tell that Sandshrew was scared, the trail of urine behind him gave that away. It was up to him to lead Sandshrew through this. It was going to take all his wit and cunning, two things he didn't have a lot of.

Brock smiled at Jimmy and pointed his arm forward.

`Onix!" He shouted "Choke that rodent with Bind!" Onix shot forward, the ground around it crumbling. Jimmy looked forward at the rushing trail of rock. His first impulse was to fill his pants with urine and run away, but he was not ready to give in so quickly. He looked across at Sandshrew who awaited his command.

"Sandshrew! Use dig!" Sandshrew didn't falter, with a swift movement he began to burrow under the ground. Suddenly Onix's tail came crashing down, right in the spot where Sandshrew had been before.

Sarah stood next to the still coughing Terry.

"Did you see that!" She shouted at Terry "Jimmy and Sandshrew are really working as a team!" Terry didn't respond but continued to choke, writhing around on the ground. "You can do it Jimmy!" Sarah shouted "Show that squinty eyed jerk who's boss!" She turned quickly to Brock "No offence."

"None taken" Brock said, smiling to himself.

Sandshrew lay underground feeling the weight of the earth above him pressing down. He was ready to strike, when Onix least expected it. He heard the movements of it above him, the ground shaking around him. He was ready.

The ground split and Sandshrew emerged in a cloud of dust. With a massive swipe his claws swiped across Onix's face. Onix was thrown across the stadium, causing it to crash into the ground. The dust cloud forced everyone backwards. Jimmy stood his ground, feeling the sand scratch against his face. Sarah sat covering her eyes whilst Kevin did all he could to cling to his life.

Suddenly the dust cleared, revealing an unconscious Onix lying across the ground. Jimmy looked in amazement at his panting Sandshrew.

"Very good Jimmy" Brock shouted across the dusty arena. But the game's not over yet. Brock reached towards his belt and pulled out a pokéball. "Geodude! I choose you!" The ball landed on the ground with a burst of light, releasing a small round, rocky pokémon. Jimmy looked down it.

"Wow, that's…that's pretty umm" Jimmy said, looking at the levitating rocks.

"Don't underestimate Geodude's powers" Brock shouted "He may be small but he will easily reduce you to rubble!"

"For god sake will you cut it with all the rock clichés!" Jimmy shouted "We get it, you're a rock trainer, your name sounds a bit like rock, it's just not funny anymore!"

No one said anything, Jimmy looked around awkwardly. Sarah and Kevin looked shocked, Brock looked offended and hurt, even the pokémon looked a little awkward.

"Sorry" Jimmy said, averting his gaze "I just…erm"

"Whatever" Brock said, scratching his head awkwardly, "So…erm, yeah, Geodude is ready if you are". Jimmy nodded, feeling a complete bastard.

Sandshrew stood by Jimmy's feet, obviously waiting for the atmosphere to return to the room. He felt a great surge of pride having taken down that giant pile of rocks, but no one seemed to really care.

Jimmy stared across at the Geodude. It was obviously another rock type. That last battle had proven that Sandshrew was more than a match for a rock type pokémon. He looked down at Sandshrew and pointed forward.

"Sandshrew, you're up" he said smiling down at him. Sandshrew stared at him for a moment and then trudged forward slowly. "Would it kill you to show a little enthusiasm" Jimmy shouted behind him.

"Shrew sand shrew" Sandshrew muttered. Jimmy wasn't sure what to make of this so chose to ignore it.

"Whenever you're ready Brock" He said, gesturing towards him. Brock nodded and looked down at his Geodude.

"Alright Geodude, let's rock and roll!" He shouted. Jimmy opened his mouth to say something, but thought it best to keep his mouth shut from now on.

"Sandshrew! Use scratch attack!" Jimmy shouted pointing towards the Geodude.

Sandshrew heard his trainers command and leapt into action. He was going to show his worth this time, finally he would get the recognition he deserved. He scraped his claws along the rocky outer layer of the Geodude's face. Sandshrew let out a howl of pain and fell to the floor clutching his right paw.

"S-Sandshrew?" Jimmy said tentatively, looking down at the sobbing pokémon.

"Rooky mistake Jimmy" Brock said smugly "Every trainer should know that normal attacks are likely to do very little damage to rock types". Jimmy looked down at Sandshrew and bit his lip. Brock smiled and gestured to his Geodude.

"Geodude! Use Rock Throw!" Geodude moved swiftly, grabbing an enormous stone and lifting it above it's head. Jimmy looked in horror as the rock flew towards Sandshrew.

"Sandshrew!" he shouted "Use dig"

Sandshrew reacted quickly, the giant boulder getting closer by the second. With great effort he began to burrow into the ground. He felt a pain in his paw as he dug but knew that the giant rock would probably end up hurting him a hell of a lot more.

The boulder crashed to the ground, causing more dust to fly into the air. Jimmy stood firmly, hoping against hope that Sandshrew had been fast enough. Suddenly the dust cleared. Geodude stood over the a giant boulder. Sandshrew was nowhere in sight. Jimmy smiled to himself. Sandshrew had really outdone himself this time.

"Don't go getting too confident" Brock shouted across to Jimmy. Jimmy looked up and saw the large smile on Brock's face. "Being underground doesn't protect you from everything." He pointed towards his Geodude. "Geodude! Magnitude!". Suddenly the ground around the arena started to shake. Rocks and boulders began to crumble to the ground. Dust fell from the ceiling whilst tiles smashed onto the stone floor. Sarah stood clutching Kevin, who was distracted from his coughing by the bust that had just been forced into his face. Brock stood firm, smiling at Jimmy through the dust. Jimmy looked down at the ground that was beginning to split.

Sandshrew was holding on for dear life. The ground around him was shaking, causing the walls of his tunnel to cave in. He felt the rocks around him drop through and collide with his firm body. With a great effort he attempted to deflect the shards of rock hurtling towards his face. Suddenly, there was a massive bang and the ground beneath him seemed to propel him into the air. The sudden brightness of the arena dazzled him, everything around him was silent and slow. He felt dazed and tired, feeling only the wind flapping against his rough ears. Suddenly with a large thud, he crashed into the ground and was suddenly flung into blackness.

Jimmy looked down at his unconscious friend with horror. Brock's attack had been brutal, there was nothing he could have done.

"Don't tell me you're ready to quit already" Brock laughed "I'm hoping you've got another pokémon to fight for you". Jimmy looked down at his belt. He did have another pokémon, but it was so new, it didn't have the experience that Sandshrew had.

"I do have another" Jimmy said, reaching towards his belt "and I get the feeling he's exactly what I need to get me out of this predicament. Grasping the ball in his hand he threw it forward towards the battlefield. "Pikachu! I choose you!" he shouted.

Sarah dropped Kevin to the floor, turning to look at the battlefield. Had she misheard? Or had Jimmy genuinely caught one. She looked in amazement and the small yellow creature appeared from the ball. Bolts of electricity shot out of it's cheeks as it landed on all fours onto the battle field.

"J-Jimmy!" Sarah shouted "Where did you get such a CUTE pokémon!" Jimmy turned to Sarah and raised his eyebrows.

"erm, I caught it in Viridian forest when I went looking for you". He said, looking blankly back at her. A look of horror suddenly appeared on Sarah's face.

"What!" she shouted, flinging her arms into the air "I was in there for hours looking for one and you managed it in a couple of minutes?!"

"I suppose I just got lucky" Jimmy said with a shrug. "Can I get on with the battle now?"

"Of course" Sarah shouted "But you and I will be having words later Jimmy Lander!". Jimmy turned back to Brock who gave him a small shrug.

"so, erm, let's battle" Jimmy said gesturing to his Pikachu.

Pikachu leapt forward, he was finally free to take on any foe that was there to fight - wait a minute, was that a rock type. Pikachu looked back at his trainer who stood confidently behind him. Seriously, was he that stupid? An electric type against a rock type. He grimaced and remembered his days in Viridian forest. There were no rock or ground types there. Just plenty of bugs and birds to zap with his thunderbolt. He was the king of that forest, the other pokémon always used to run away, leaving him with the spoils of battle. Then this stupid trainer came along with his Sandshrew and now all he's seen is a bunch of ground and rock Pokémon. Where had it all gone wrong? Maybe he should have stayed with his family in the deserted power plant, they were all so happy there. But no, he had to stand out didn't he? He wanted to prove that he wasn't just another electric-sapping rodent like the rest. His thoughts were cut short however, by a pile of rocks colliding with the side of his face.

"No fair!" Jimmy shouted "Pikachu wasn't ready!". Pikachu lay unconscious under a large pile of rubble. Geodude stood over it looking delighted at his own handy work.

"Pikachu should have been ready to battle regardless" Brock said, crossing his arms.

"But you hadn't confirmed we'd started" Jimmy shouted "I always made sure you were ready beforehand!".

"That's right!" Sarah yelled "Poor Pikachu wasn't given a chance, your mean old Geodude just attacked straight away!" Kevin supported himself on Sarah's shoulder, nodding in affirmation as he choked violently.

"Alright, alright" Brock said. "You can revive your Pikachu and because I'm feeling nice, you can have two free shots". Jimmy turned reached into his bag and started digging around.

Mostly it was filled with dry rice and a few pairs of underwear, but he managed to find very little else.

"Umm, I don't think I have a revive" he said, looking up sheepishly.

"Well then, I guess I win" Brock said with a smile.

"Wait!" Sarah shouted, running over to Jimmy "I have a revive you can use". She placed the diamond shaped item in his hand. She leaned over to whisper to him. "Not all of Pikachu's attacks are electric attacks, I remember hearing about a move-"

"Are you ready yet!" Brock interrupted.

"Don't worry about it" Jimmy said, clutching the revive in his hand "I reckon I've got this worked out. Slowly he placed the item onto Pikachu, who slowly came back to consciousness.

Pikachu's eyes opened slowly, the glaring light of the stadium coming into view. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out for, but he was quite sure he was very lucky to not have any form of brain damage. He rolled onto his side and looked across the ground and Oh you have to be kidding me! Another damn rock pokémon. Seriously, where the hell were these water pokémon, hell a fire pokémon would do right now. He crawled onto his feet and turned around to his trainer. Let's see what this idiot gets him to do this time.

Ash looked down at his now conscious Pikachu. He wasn't sure how to go about this, but he was pretty sure it was possible to do.

"Pikachu!" He shouted "Use thunder bolt".

Pikachu listened to his trainers instructions and sighed. A thunderbolt against a rock type? Seriously, of all the prepubescent trainers that could have caught him it had to be the one that had no clue of what the hell he was doing. Despite this, he still knew he would have to do what his trainer tells him. Building up the energy around him, Pikachu charged his attack. With a great amount of strain he blasted the thunderbolt forward into the Geodude's face. Of course the Geodude was completely unaffected. Pikachu braced himself and waited for the crashing rocks. But they never came.

"Did you really think that would work?" Brock said with a loud laugh. "a mere thunderbolt could never penetrate through Geodude's hard outer shell" Brock put his hand forward and raised one finger "One move left before I strike back". Jimmy concentrated, feeling his hands begin to sweat. Suddenly an idea came into his head.

"Pikachu! Agility!"

Pikachu nodded and began charging his power. He felt faster than he was before, definitely a lot faster than that pile of rocks in front of him.

"That's your free moves over Jimmy" Brock laughed. "Not that I was expecting much more from you". Sarah clung onto Terry, staring in horror at the sight before her.

"Don't underestimate Pikachu" Jimmy smiled "His powers will definitely shock you". The atmosphere once again disappeared from the room. Sarah dropped Terry and shook her head in disappointment. Brock smirked to himself and tried hard not to laugh. Pikachu looked up at his trainer and let out a small sigh. "Oh so you can do crap puns and everyone's fine with it, but when I try it everyone looks at me as though I'm a complete retard.

"It's all about the delivery and timing" Brock said "It's got to be the right moment otherwise it's just not funny"

"Oh whatever!" Jimmy said quickly, "let's get this match over with".

"Alright then" Brock said with a smile "Geodude use rock smash!"

Geodude flew towards Pikachu with haste, but Pikachu was so much faster, he dodged the slow moving boulder with ease. Confused by this the Geodude went crashing into the ground.

"Too bad" Jimmy said with a smile "You thought I was a complete idiot didn't you Brock. Of course I knew electricity couldn't penetrate rock, that's one of the most basic lessons we were taught. You thought I was stupid, you got cocky and you let your guard down!" Jimmy pointed towards Geodude "Pikachu could more than easily take your Geodude down. Pikachu! Iron Tail!"

Pikachu flew forwards, charging the power up in his tail. The Geodude lay dazed and confused, completely open to an attack. With a massive swipe, his tail collided with the Geodude's rocky surface. Geodude let out a wail and crashed into the wall. Pikachu landed dramatically on the ground, feeling massively satisfied with itself

Brock and Jimmy sat in the pokémon centre. Both of them in great need of healing their pokémon. Jimmy looked down at the rock badge that he had been presented.

"You know Jimmy" Brock said, putting down a cup of warm milk "A lot of trainers come through my gym and beat me, that's what I'm there for, I'm the first trainer they have to face, but it's very rare that I meet a trainer that actually teaches me a lesson". Jimmy raised his eyebrows

"I don't see how I really taught you anything, some might even argue that I didn't play fair". Jimmy said, with a small chuckle. Brock let out a laugh

"Yeah, you really hustled me good, but you didn't break any rules so I can't fault you on it. But you didn't just focus on the weaknesses of my pokémon, you focused on my own weaknesses. I'm a hard headed guy who's all about strength and power. You played on this and showed me how much of a weakness that really was. That sort of skill goes beyond the skills of a trainer, you have the ability to go far." Jimmy let out a loud laugh,

"Ha, we both know that's complete crap" Jimmy said, downing a Carlsberg (just the one to calm the nerves) "I have very little practical knowledge of how to do all this, I just focus on the faults in it all, I'm not really cut out for all of this stuff-"

"But you are!" Brock said quickly "You don't focus on following the rules and striving to be nothing but the best. You think things through, learn from your mistakes and ignore those who put you down. Believe me, you're a hell of a lot better than most of these chumps that come through here. Don't you forget I said that. Jimmy nodded and stood up from his chair.

"Well I suppose I better be moving on then" he said rubbing his eyes "I enjoyed our battle, I enjoyed it a lot.

"So did I" Brock said, patting him on the back "and I hope you win many more".

"I wouldn't count on that" Jimmy said with a laugh, lifting his bag over his shoulder.

"Hey!" Brock said quickly "You wiped the floor with me, which means that any chump that beats you now is also beating me. So don't go making my name look bad!"

"I'll try not to" Jimmy said. He patted Brock on the shoulder and walked out the door.

Sarah was sat outside the Pokémon centre. She seemed to be writing something on a notepad. Jimmy walked over to her and sat down next to her.

"Where's Kevin?" He asked. With a slight yawn.

"He's off at the Pokémart getting a new inhaler" She said with a laugh "his other one's full of sand". Jimmy let out a small laugh and lay down to look at the sky.

"So what was it you wanted to talk about?" Jimmy said, looking up at Sarah.

"Oh it doesn't matter" she said, patting him on the head "I'm over it now".

"Right" Jimmy said with a feeble nod. "So when are you planning on battling Brock?

"Oh I've already done that" Sarah said quickly.

"What!" Jimmy shouted, sitting up quickly. "When the hell did you do that?!"

"The first day we got here" Sarah said smiling down at him, we don't all have to make a big song and dance about it!". Jimmy sighed and lay back down on the ground.

"Well I suppose that means we can get moving tomorrow" Jimmy said, looking up at the sky above him. The things that both Ash and Brock had both told him were floating around his mind. Maybe he wasn't destined to be a massive failure. Perhaps he actually had a chance of becoming a decent pokémon trainer. Suddenly, Sarah let out a loud scream. Jimmy sat up quickly to find a Man dressed in black holding her by the neck.

"Jimmy Lander?" The man said, looking down at Jimmy. "I suggest you come with us if you know what's good for you".


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - The threat.

Jimmy stood rigidly as the thug dragged him across the city. Sarah had been thrown into a van kicking and screaming. Jimmy felt a pistol pushing into his back. He had no idea what was happening but he was pretty sure he was in a bit of trouble.

"Where are you taking me?" Jimmy whispered to the figure.

"Shut up kid if you know what's good for you". Jimmy closed his mouth and continued walking. No one seemed to be taking any notice of the big thug dressed all in black who just happened to be pushing a gun into the back of a minor.

"What the hell do you want with me?" Jimmy muttered "I'm a nobody".

"Ha, of course you are kid" the man muttered, pushing the gun harder into his back "I suppose you've never heard of Richie Lander then". Jimmy's heart froze.

"What has this got to do with my dad" Jimmy said, lowering his voice even more. The man behind him chuckled

"Looks like he's offended our boss" The man laughed "He needs to be taught a lesson". The man led Jimmy into a large building surrounded by an 8ft fence. A large group of Arcanine patrolled the area, accompanied by armed guards.

"It's a pretty secure place then" Jimmy said, hearing the gates slam behind him.

"Don't try anything stupid" The man said "Those Arcanine'll rip you apart in a matter of seconds.

"Of course they would" Jimmy said with a laugh, "But I'm assuming you don't want that. The man stopped moving. Jimmy turned and looked up at him.

"What makes you think that" He said, lowering the gun"

"Because" Jimmy said, slowly rotating his body. "For you to be any threat to my dad you'll need me alive". He placed his hand on the front of the gun and pushed it down. Suddenly there was a loud bang and smoke issued from the end of the gun. The man released Jimmy and leapt backwards. Jimmy stood in place, completely un-phased. "Which is why they equipped this gun with blanks".

Sarah opened her eyes. The room was dark and cold. The floor beneath her was hard and massively uncomfortable. She looked around for a sign of light. She wasn't sure how she had got there or what had happened. She reached to her belt, grasping at her pokéballs. They had taken them. She heard a cough in the corner. The familiar wheeze and the sound of an inhaler being shaken appeared from the corner.

"Kevin?" Sarah said, moving towards the sound of choking.

"S-Sarah?" he spluttered, standing up slowly. Kevin grasped blindly forward moving towards Sarah's voice.

"Kevin" Sarah said sternly "take your hand off my chest". Kevin recoiled backwards, hiding his hands behind him.

"Sorry, sorry" he said quickly, running back to his corner.

"Where on earth are we?" Sarah said, placing her hand against the cold wall.

"It's the rockets" Kevin said grimly "They want Jimmy for something, I knew he was up to no good".

"Poor Jimmy" Sarah gasped quickly "I hope they don't hurt him".

Jimmy was led into a large, plush mansion. Solid gold statues of legendary pokémon surrounded the room. Jimmy looked around, he was genuinely impressed. Suddenly footsteps came from the large set of stairs in front of him. A young man, around the age of twenty, walked down the stairs. He wore a plush blue shirt and shiny black shoes. He wore large framed glasses, covered slightly by his dark, unkempt hair. He smiled at Jimmy and gestured to the man behind him. The man nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Jimmy alone with the stranger.

"Please" the man said, with a smile "Do follow me"

Sarah sat next to Kevin, the floor below her becoming less comfortable by the minute. Her eyes had now become accustomed to the dark. She appeared to be sitting in a large iron cage. The door had a simple frame, but without her pokémon she wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

"They took your pokémon too I suppose" Kevin said, running his finger along the hard floor beneath him. Sarah gave a large sniff. She was hungry, tired and wanted nothing more than to wash her hair.

Jimmy sat in a small office. The furniture looked expensive as did many of the decorations that were scattered around it. His eyes glanced over the frames on the wall next to him. Newspaper headlines were scattered around them.

'Raid in Celadon city results in 12 Million Pokédollars displaced' 'largest jewellery heist Johto has seen in 50 years'

"Admiring my handy-work?" The man said, sliding over on his leather desk chair. "I get around a lot as you can see". Jimmy looked up at the man and blinked.

"What do you want with me" Jimmy said, kicking his feet up on the man's desk.

"Please take your shoes off my desk" the man said quickly "It's made of solid mahogany and I would prefer it if you didn't mess it up with your filthy shoes". Jimmy blinked at the man for a moment and then took his feet off the desk. "Thank you" the man said "That wasn't so hard was it? Would you like a cup of tea"

"You didn't answer my question" Jimmy said, putting his hands together.

"I'm aware of that" The man said quickly "I thought it unnecessary to answer a question that has such an obvious answer".

"Does my dad owe you money or something?" Jimmy said, rolling his eyes. The man let out a loud laugh.

"Do I look like I need money?" The man said, gesturing to his large collection of gold statues. "But yes, my business does concern your father, I require his assistance in a very delicate matter". Jimmy leant forward, looking the man in the eyes.

"My dad's hardly going to be able to assist you in any matter, he hasn't trained pokémon for over fifteen years now"

"A trainer's skill hardly diminishes over time" The man said quickly "Your father is an amazing trainer, I've always marvelled at his skills".

"So you're a fan of my dad's?" Jimmy said

"In a manner of speaking" The man said "of course my dream has always been to be as great as him if not greater".

"So you decided that to become a better trainer you'd have to kidnap three 10 year olds?" Jimmy said, raising his eyebrows "I assumed it'd take time and effort and you know, skill-"

The man's fist collided with the side of his face, propelling him across the room. With a great amount of effort he pulled himself to his feet.

"Wow, dick move" Jimmy said crawling back in his chair.

A rattle appeared outside the cage. Sarah screamed and ran over to Kevin.

"What is it" Kevin asked, not minding Sarah's arms wrapping themselves around his neck.

"I - I heard something outside of the door" She said, burying her head into his chest. Kevin stood up slowly. Now was the chance for him to show Sarah that he was just as brave as Jimmy.

"Don't worry I'll check it out" He said firmly walking over to the door. Suddenly there was a loud rattle and Kevin jumped backwards into Sarah's arms.

The man stood shaking his hand. Jimmy's cheek had been a lot bonier than he had first anticipated.

"I'm sorry" he said, sitting back down "But you must remember that I have no problem with hurting you. I'm willing to do anything to get your father to help me".

Jimmy sat back in his chair, rubbing his face with the back of his hand. This guy wasn't going to play nice so neither was he.

"I suppose this task is something only my dad can do" Jimmy said cracking his knuckles.

"Your father is the only person I trust to assist me" the man said. He turned away from Jimmy and stared out of the window. "I have made myself many enemies, countless people would like nothing more than me to lose everything"

"So your idea of keeping a low profile is hiding in a large mansion surrounded by burly body guards" Jimmy said with a snort. The man didn't seem angry, he only gave a small laugh.

"No one will be looking for me at the moment" The man said, looking out at the sky "as far as the world is aware I am a dead man"

"But you're not worried that your guards will betray you?" Jimmy said "Are you sure you've thought all of this through". At this the man whipped around quickly.

"Oh I've thought it all through better than you can imagine" He said with a manic grin "I've planned everything out, from beginning to end".

"But your guards-" Jimmy started.

"Jacob" The man said, speaking into a small microphone. "Can you please come in here". The man turned to Jimmy and reached under his desk. With a smile he pulled out a large katana. A look of shock appeared on Jimmy's face. The man approached the door. There was a loud knock from behind it.

"Come in" The man said, raising his sword. The door opened and a man dressed all in black walked through. With one foul swipe the katana collided with his neck.

"Don't be such a coward" Sarah shouted, pushing Kevin towards the door. Kevin took a few steps before retreating back to Sarah.

"I don't care what you think" He said, pushing Sarah forwards "I'm not gonna risk my life facing whatever it is". Sarah pulled Kevin's small hands off her arms and threw him to the floor. Kevin lay panting, his trousers suspiciously damp.

"Jimmy wouldn't be such a coward about something like this" She said sharply.

"Of course he would" Kevin said "It's just he's so wasted half the time that he doesn't know what the hell's going on!". Sarah slapped Kevin across the face

"Don't be so horrid, he's been clean for a week now!"

Jimmy sat panting, the man's head rolled across the floor. He braced for blood splatter similar to that of a Tarantino film. But it never came. He looked up to see the man's body still standing upright. Bare wires sat sparking

"Nice one sir" The disembodied head said with a deep laugh. Jimmy stared in horror at the talking head.

"Okay, I'm gonna need a drink" Jimmy said.

"Fine!" Kevin shouted, running over to the door "I'll go check it out, in fact, I hope it does kill me, it'd be better than being stuck in here with you, you mouthy bitch!" At this Sarah looked up quickly. Fire had lit in her eyes. "S-sorry" Kevin said, backing away from her.

"Check. The. Door. NOW!" Sarah yelled. Kevin let out a small yelp and approached the door of the cage.

The man lowered his Katana and smiled at Jimmy.

"I take it you're not familiar with AI robotics" He said, staring at Jimmy's pale face. "Very useful creations to have, especially for a decoy"

"So - so he's a robot" Jimmy stuttered, staring at the laughing head.

"In a manner of speaking" The man said, sheathing his sword. "I've always been quite skilful with electronics, the creation of robots was a big move from designing computers, I had to make them seem human, give them a personality. It was hard work, something your father never supported". Jimmy looked at the head, which continued to smirk at him.

"It's amazing" he said struggling to remove his eyes from the robot's head. "So all of your staff are robots"

"Of course" The man said with a smile "I designed them to be capable of completing the simplest of tasks. By human standards they are clinically retarded and their IQ's would only match that of a Tesco trolley boy. However as computers they are the most advanced form of technology". Jimmy nodded in enthusiasm. He was genuinely amazed by what he had seen.

"B-but what do you need my dad for" he said, finally turning away from the robotic head.

"I'm afraid that is none of your business" The man said sharply. "You have already seen more than any living person. Tomorrow your father will be deciding your fate. If he refuses to comply with my demands then I will be forced to dispose of you." the man stood up and walked over to the window. "it would be a shame if I had to, I am not fond of such ideas".

"So if he doesn't do what you say you're going to kill me" Jimmy said, with a look of horror.

"That pretty much sums it up, yes" The man said with a tilt of the head.

"Well if I am to die could I at least know the name of my killer" Jimmy said, feeling his palms sweating. The man looked at him for a moment and smiled.

"Well, I suppose it won't make a difference either way. My name is Thomas" he said, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

"Fair enough" Jimmy said "Nice to meet you Thomas, or should I call you Tom?"

"I don't care" Thomas said "In either case I don't plan on seeing much more of you".

"Aww" Jimmy said "and I'd thought we'd bonded so well".

"Most ten year olds would do well to keep their mouths shut when threatened with death" Thomas said.

"Well right now I'm fine" Jimmy said with a smirk "You are banking on my father to cooperate so you'll want me alive for now". Thomas stared at him for a while and then smiled.

"You are quite good at analysing a situation" he said sitting back down "However there is one thing you are forgetting".

"And what is this" Jimmy said, leaning back in his chair.

"You're not the only hostage". Thomas said with a smile.

"and I thought grown ups were meant to be smart" Jimmy said leaning forward on his chair "But I can't really expect much from someone who looks to my dad for inspiration".

"You're skating on thin ice Jimmy" Thomas said through gritted teeth "Do you really think that little of your friends?"

"Oh I care about my friends" Jimmy said with a smile "But there is part of your plan that is greatly flawed".

"What do you mean by that" Thomas said, leaning forward on his chair.

"Your guards" Jimmy said "They really are stupid".

"What is your point!" Thomas shouted, grabbing the front of Jimmy's polo neck.

"Let's just say they weren't too thorough" Jimmy said, reaching towards his belt.

"What!" Thomas said with a shout. Suddenly he looked down at Jimmy's hand "No!"

"Sandshrew go!"

Kevin placed his hand on the door. Suddenly there was a loud bang and Kevin was sent rocketing backwards onto Sarah. The door had been taken clean off it's hinges.

"What is it, what is it!" Sarah yelled grasping at Kevin. The explosion had left Sarah's sight in a hazy blur.

"I don't know" Kevin said, burying his head into her shirt "It's too dusty to tell". Sarah watched as the dust slowly settled, gradually granting more visibility. A figure stood in the doorway. Not a human. Something much smaller.

"Pika-Pika!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight - the escape

Thomas's desk was hurled into Thomas, who crumpled over it choking. Sandshrew had tackled headlong into it, cracking it down the centre. Jimmy didn't waste any time, with a quick jump he flung himself out of the room, turning quickly he returned Sandshrew to his pokéball before exiting the room, slamming the door behind him. Thomas lay on the floor completely bemused by what had happened. Quickly he sat up sliding the broken remains of his desk off his body. Wiping the splintered wood off his torso he quickly checked to see that no one had seen what had just happened. With a sigh of relief he walked over to his door and opened the control panel next to him. A small microphone and camera slid out. Wiping his ruffled hair out of eyes Thomas activated the camera.

XXXXXX

Jimmy rushed down a long corridor. The walls were completely white, as was the floor beneath it. Suddenly a sound emerged from above him.

"is this thing on" a voice said followed by a sound of buttons being clicked "is this, c-can you see me?" the voice swore under it's breath and continued to click at buttons. Suddenly a flash of colours appeared around the room. Jimmy shielded his eyes as the light filled the room. There was a loud buzz and Thomas' face appeared on every wall and ceiling.

"I have to say" Thomas said, with a look of great anger "I was not expecting that, not that I'm impressed"

"Of course not" Jimmy said, not sure whether Thomas would be able to hear him. It turned out he could.

"Shut it kid" Thomas said forcefully "You've just made things a lot harder for yourself than they need to be".

"Really?" Jimmy said, now staring at the ceiling projection "would it really take that much effort for you to catch up with me?"

"I have no need to catch up with you" Thomas said with a smile "You are trapped in my building and this building is under my control!". Jimmy nodded and pushed a hand through his hair

"You do like your gadgets don't you" Jimmy said "I suppose you have to compensate for your lack of a girlfriend and everything" This comment struck a nerve. A look of unbearable anger appeared on Thomas' face. "Ooh sensitive subject?" Jimmy asked with mock concern "come on, what are you 20? And you're still playing with toys, have you even kissed a girl?"

"Of course I have!" Thomas said quickly

"One that wasn't a robot?" Jimmy said. Thomas' face fell suddenly. "Thought so" Jimmy said with a smirk "Something about you radiated sexually frustrated teenager"

"Shut up kid!" Thomas shouted "You're not even a teenager yet, what do you know about girls"

"I didn't say I did" Jimmy said simply "I was only asking perfectly innocent questions, it was you that took your answers to be negative". Thomas said nothing, he simply looked puzzled at what Jimmy had said.

"You know what Jimmy" Thomas said calmly "I'm really going to enjoy doing this".

XXXXXX

Sarah stared at the small figure in the doorway. Suddenly her heart leapt and she ran across to it, wrapping her arms around it's small furry body.

"Pikachu you came to help us!" She yelled in excitement. Pikachu looked uncomfortably at Kevin as his face was squashed and squeezed by Sarah.

"Umm Sarah, I er, don't think he likes that" Kevin said timidly. Sarah turned around quickly, glaring into Kevin's eyes. Kevin backed down, feeling the rage emitting from Sarah's eyes. Sarah turned back to the Pikachu and continued to squeeze it against her face.

"Who's the cutest ever little ball of cuddly yellow fur?" Sarah said in a childish voice "You, yes it's you. Whosacutelil'cuddlyballoffur?". Kevin side stepped passed Sarah and walked towards the open door. "Who'salil'yellowbabyfaced - where the hell are you going?" Kevin whipped around quickly and stared at Sarah.

"Well umm…Pikachu sort of opened the door for us to leave-" Kevin started

"You were going to leave me on my own to fend for myself in this dark scary cage?" Sarah shouted, loosening her grip on Pikachu who took the opportunity to scurry away from her. "What was I supposed to do here on my own, wait here for those creepy guys to come over here and have their way with me? This is why Jimmy is so much more of a man than you will ever be, he wouldn't leave a defenceless girl all on her own, he would stand by and protect her until his dying breath!" Sarah stood panting, whilst Kevin felt the last of the urine drip into his trainers.

"o-okay" Kevin stuttered, backing away from Sarah's furious expression "B-but I think we should carry on, b-because Jimmy has s-sort of s-sent his Pikachu, r-right?" Sarah's anger disappeared from her face. She turned quickly to the Pikachu and a smile appeared across her face.

"Aww Jimmy, I knew you'd pull through for us"

XXXXXX

Jimmy shuddered as the room around him began to rotate. The walls began to spin quickly, flashing brightly. Suddenly the floor began to rumble, shaking the room around him. Jimmy's legs began to shake, and he felt his knees buckling under his weight.

"This is how I deal with cocky little shits like you" Thomas' voice boomed from all around. Jimmy shut his eyes tightly and fell to the floor.

"Y-your s-such a t-tool" Jimmy stuttered, attempting to pull himself back to his knees "I'm s-sure your moms proud of her special little boy!". Suddenly there was a loud crash followed by a string of swear words. "Wow did I t-touch a nerve there?" laughed Jimmy, feeling his stomach dropping violently.

XXXXXX

Sarah dragged Kevin through the doorway, clutching Pikachu to her chest with her left arm. The room was dark and empty with a few red lights blinking from the ceiling. There was a loud noise coming from above them along with a small amount of dust dropping from the ceiling.

"Umm Sarah is it just me or is the ceiling shaking?" Kevin said staring up at the pulsating ceiling.

"Yes, yes it is" Said a man's voice from behind them. Kevin and Sarah whipped around quickly. A tall guard stood smiling at them. He held a small handgun towards Kevin's head. "Looks like your little friends causing a little trouble" he said walking slowly towards them "and he's not gonna be happy if I let two prisoners go just like that". Sarah squealed and loosened her grip on Pikachu. "So what's it gonna be kids? Are you gonna get back in that prison or do I need to unload a magazine in your skull?"

"Okay, lets not get too hasty" Kevin said, his arms shaking "surely we can come to some sort of arrangement". The guard laughed and shook his head.

"No negotiation kid, now either get your ass back in that cell if you wanna live". Kevin stepped backwards towards the cell, the guard closing in on him slowly. "that's right kid, step back in there, straight back in th-" Suddenly the man was cut short. Pikachu had leapt out of Sarah's arms and with the force of it's momentum ripped the head of the guard clean off his shoulders.

"Holy shit!" Kevin shouted, leaping back in horror "Pikachu just ripped that guys shitting head off!". Sarah didn't hear him, she was too busy screaming at the top of her voice.

XXXXXX

Jimmy crawled forward, feeling his head spinning violently. He felt sick, disorientated and was damp in a very uncomfortable place. Thomas stared down at him, his eyes wide in horror.

"M-mummy?" he stuttered staring down at the controls. "You don't understand what I went through, what happened to me!" Jimmy's sight began to settle, the room behind him finally stopped spinning.

"Well I imagine it can't have been too good as you are grinding your teeth into a fine powder" Jimmy said calmly. He reached behind him slowly, this could be the distraction he needed.

"Shut up!" Thomas shouted, pounding the controls. A large lazer fired out of nowhere, narrowly missing Jimmy's left ear.

"Whoa what the hell!" Jimmy exclaimed leaping out the way of a second beam. Thomas didn't reply, his head was now lying on his hands producing a cacophony of loud sobbing sounds. Narrowly dodging a large flamethrower, Jimmy reached towards his belt. His sweaty palm slid along the pokéball

"I hope you can help me out Sandshrew!"

XXXXXX

Sarah and Kevin ran behind the blurry yellow object. Pikachu dodged and smashed it's way through any obstacle that met it. Suddenly Kevin let out a loud yelp. A large lazer beam had fired across the top of his head and set his hat ablaze.

"Holy crap, get it off me!" he shouted running around in manic circles. Pikachu whipped round quickly, a look of disapproval on it's face. With a swift movement and another loud yelp from Kevin, Pikachu had swiped out the flame on his hat.

"Get up you nincompoop!" Sarah shouted dragging Kevin to his feet "We need to get out of this place before it falls in on us!"

XXXXXX

Sandshrew flew through the air, darting in terror as a large crossbow bolt flew across the room.

"We need to get out of here quickly Sandshrew!" Jimmy said, narrowly ducking out of the way of what looked like a burning pineapple. Sandshrew put it's face to the ground and began to sniff. Suddenly his ears pricked up and he pointed up the corridor.

"Nice one Sandshrew!" Jimmy shouted. Okay so the other direction was a dead end but Jimmy felt that he should encourage Sandshrew's cooperation.

XXXXXX

"Okay…I think…I'm going…to hurl" Kevin said clutching his chest firmly.

"Pika-pi pika!" Pikachu shouted not turning round

"You tell him Pika!" Sarah said, glaring back at the fatigued bug trainer.

"I…really…am...struggling…to…breathe" Kevin gasped, beginning to feel his head go faint.

"Then shut the hell up and focus on staying alive!" Sarah yelled, jumping over a confused looking Nidorino who had spent the last two years of it's life in a dark cage and was only just now coming to terms with it's new surroundings.

"How much…further is…it now?" Kevin shouted, nearly tripping on a raised piece of ground.

"Pi-Pika-chu chu!" Pikachu shouted

"Umm…good?" Kevin said

XXXXXX

Jimmy sprinted up the corridor following Sandshrew who was beginning to think that the compact confines of his pokéball looked pretty damn good right now. In the distance Thomas could still be heard yelling about his mother. Jimmy caught the words 'Hoenn' and 'Whore' amidst a loud exclamation of various swear words and some illogical sounds that sounded as though they should be words. Suddenly out of nowhere an Electrode appeared. Jimmy skidded along the floor stopping just before it. The electrode began to light up and an evil grin appeared on it's face. Jimmy stared blankly as the light began to fill the room. Sandshrew looked in horror from Jimmy to the electrode. With a quick leap, Sandshrew charged into the now glowing pokémon.

XXXXXX

An explosion filled the room. Dust and rubble flew everywhere. Sarah and Kevin covered their eyes as Pikachu hurtled through the wall. On the other side Jimmy stood Sheepishly, staring at the large hole where the wall and the Electrode used to be. The Electrode lay about ten metres away, unconscious and steaming. Pikachu and Sandshrew lay panting heavily, staring at each other reproachfully. Suddenly Jimmy was lifted off his feet as a pair of skinny arms wrapped themselves around his neck.

"Jimmy! You saved us!"

"Sarah please I don't have time for- wait a minute, Kevin?". Jimmy said, glancing at his skinny arms around his neck.

"I knew you would pull through for us, you're such a cool guy" Kevin said burying his head into Jimmy's shoulder. Sarah ran over to Pikachu and pulling it into her embrace.

"Pikachu you did so well!" She shouted, squeezing Pikachu into her chest. Sandshrew looked up smugly at Pikachu who appeared to be struggling to get free. "You took out that Electrode all by yourself."

"Well not quite" Jimmy said, attempting to pull Kevin off his arm "Sandshrew's impact combined with Pikachu's were more than enough to knock out the electrode". Jimmy finally removed Kevin's grip on his shoulder and gestured towards Sandshrew who jumped onto his shoulder. Pikachu stared at Jimmy, it inclined it's head towards the pokéball by his belt and then up at Sarah.

"Ooh can I carry Pikachu for a little while?" Sarah asked, clutching Pikachu closer to her chest.

"Yeah sure why not" Jimmy said, returning Pikachu's pokéball to his belt. Pikachu stared at Jimmy with a look of complete betrayal as Sarah's grip increased on his squishy yellow body. Jimmy stared at the large open door in front of them, they had finally gotten out of the building.

The air outside was cold and a strong wind had picked up. Jimmy, Sarah and Kevin retreated from the building, the sounds of explosions and clunks still emitting from inside. The gates to the house were only metres away, however something strange had struck his eye. Maybe it was the lack of clouds in the sky, maybe it was the intensity of the sunlight, or maybe it was the lack of ground on the outside of the garden.

"Did you really think you'd get away that easily?" a voice shouted from above them. A giant screen appeared on the top of the house, Thomas' face had appeared, looking far more ruffled than he did before. "you could still try to run away, but I think it's only fair to tell you, you're about 40,000 ft in the air, so your landing may be a little bumpy!" Thomas let out a loud laugh that erupted around the garden. Jimmy looked up at the screen and sighed

"God, this is so cliché" He muttered.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - The Rematch

The wind rushed through Jimmy's hair, Thomas' wild eyes stared down across him. He wasn't intimidated, after Sandshrew had easily floored him but minutes before there wasn't too much to be scared of. Three security cameras were pointing at them from different angles. He grinned defiantly back and then turned to Kevin who was shaking violently, a small wet patch appearing on his shorts.

"There is no escape from my floating island!" Thomas shouted, laughing manically. Jimmy looked up quickly.

"A floating what now?" he said arching an eyebrow.

"You heard me!" Thomas bellowed "You are trapped on my floating island!"

"Oh I thought that's what you said" Jimmy said "I think you will find that this is NOT an island" Thomas stopped laughing and looked in puzzlement down at Jimmy

"What are you talking about, of course it's-"

"An island is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by WATER" Jimmy said closing his eyes smugly. "As we are surrounded by clouds, which I will admit is water VAPOUR, we are not actually surrounded by a body of water, thus this is not an island". Thomas' mouth hung open in confusion, Jimmy turned to Sarah and Kevin who were both giving him the exact same look. "What? Jimmy said "it's just simple logic-"

"Yeah okay" Kevin said quickly "It doesn't really deny the fact that we are trapped on a floating island!"

"It's not an island!-"

"Okay we get it!" Kevin turned to the large television screen and bowed his head slightly "Mr Thomas…sir…I'm not with this idiot" Kevin gestured emphatically to Jimmy "I only mean to show you the greatest of respect". Thomas looked down at Kevin and frowned with confusion and then looked back at Jimmy.

"You hang around with a bug catcher? You should really rethink your company Jimmy".

"I know" Jimmy said rolling his eyes "he sort of just tags along with me."

"B-but" Kevin stuttered. Sarah ran forward and grabbed Jimmy's arm

"Oh but you love having me here don't you Jimmy? You like having me around!" Sarah said, jumping up and down manically.

"Well…I" Jimmy said nervously

"Oh I knew it Jimmy!" Sarah shrieked happily "You'll save the day once again, you'll get rid of that ugly old guy up there and then get us off this horrible flying island!-"

"It's not an island!"

"For god sake shut up all of you!" Thomas shouted slamming his fists on the table "You are my hostages and as my hostages you are to do what I say!"

"You're not doing a very good job at keeping us hostage" Jimmy said "We managed to get outside with very little effort".

"You misunderstand me!" Thomas said with a large smile "I am in control of this entire island-"

"-Not an Island"

"and I have you prisoner no matter where you are!" Suddenly three large turrets shot out of the ground. The barrels of each gun began to spin quickly. Jimmy stared into the whirling mettle and reached towards his belt. Suddenly the turrets fixed themselves on Jimmy's face.

"Sandshrew! Go!" Sandshrew flew forwards, smacking each turret upwards, straight into the security cameras above them. The bullets fired violently blowing the security cameras apart. Thomas let out a loud yelp and quickly turned off the turrets. Jimmy turned to Sarah and Kevin.

"So what do we do now Jimmy?" Kevin asked excitedly "What's your next plan of action". Jimmy smiled and then reached into his pocket.

"Don't worry guys I have a plan".

"That was your big plan?" Kevin said, clinging to the back of a wildly flapping Fearow. "You called your dad?". Jimmy sat on the back of a dragonite, rolling his eyes at Kevin. Jimmy's dad sat gracefully facing him.

"You know, I would have thought you'd have your own flying pokémon by now" he said with a look of great concern on his face.

"Yeah well you thought wrong then I suppose" Jimmy said "I've already got one gym badge, I thought you'd at least be pleased about that".

"Well I suppose you have to go at your own pace" Jimmy's dad said "I suppose I can't hope to see you in this year's pokémon league, maybe not even next years at this rate".

"I'm trying alright!" Jimmy shouted.

"He's done well so far!" Sarah shouted, clinging on to Jimmy's back "He's an amazing pokémon trainer really". Jimmy's dad looked across at Sarah and then smiled at Jimmy.

"Well at least you've found yourself a nice lass to hang out with" he said with a wink. He then looked back at the floating island-

"It's not an island!"

Sorry, the floating house and gave a small frown.

"What about that young man back there, would you like me to take care of him?" Jimmy's dad said squinting his eyes slightly.

"Don't worry about him dad" Jimmy said, shaking his head "he's a bit of a dick but he's not exactly dangerous".

Dragonite and Fearow landed gracefully in pewter city. Jimmy and Sarah delicately dismounted the broad back of the dragonite whilst Kevin attempted to crawl out of the tangled mess of a very disgruntled Fearow.

"Well it was nice to see you again" Jimmy's dad said, returning his Fearow to it's pokéball. "But this is where I leave you for now".

"Okay…thanks dad" Jimmy said somewhat reluctantly "I don't suppose you want to give us a ride to the next city?". At this his dad let out a loud laugh.

"Why would you want me to help you cheat your way past there?" he said smiling down at his son "The best part of being a pokémon trainer is all the travelling and adventuring".

"I suppose" Jimmy said with a sigh "I don't suppose you have any money you can lend me do you?". His father laughed again and then patted his Dragonite on the head. The Dragonite shot off into the air and flew away into the distance. "Well it was worth a shot" Jimmy said, walking over to Kevin and Sarah.

"I think I need to lie down" Kevin said, looking very sickly.

Jimmy sat in the pokémon centre chewing on a very soggy rice ball. He'd met a lot of weirdoes on his travels, some obsessive, some homicidal and some disturbingly infatuated with him. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes slowly.

"Jimmy Lander!" A loud voice shouted. Jimmy sat forward with a start. A boy with smooth blonde hair and a large pair of goggles stood in front of him. Jimmy stared at the boy for a moment and then racked his brain for the name.

"Umm…Barry?"

"It's Terry!" The boy shouted a look of anger appearing on his face "Not that I care what you know, a stupid trainer still stuck in Pewter city!". Jimmy raised his eyebrows at Terry. "Hey I've been passed this sucky city already!" Terry shouted "I've already earned myself TWO badges!".

"Okay" Jimmy said "I'll buy that, it doesn't really explain what you're doing back in Pewter city though".

"It's a very long story" Terry said "It involved the Diglett tunnel and a very messy incident involving quite a large amount of butter…" Jimmy raised his eyebrows at this but decided not to question it too much.

"So I suppose you must have gotten quite powerful then" Jimmy said "you know with your two badges and everything."

"Of course" Terry said smugly "But I suppose you already knew that after I wiped the floor with you last time"

"Yeah, I suppose you did" Jimmy said.

"Yeah I did, left you crying like a little girl!" Terry said "I bet you're no powerful now!"

"Well I've only got one badge so far so I suppose not"

"Yeah, I bet you've gained nothing since we last battled, I bet your pokémon are just as weak…"

"possibly" Jimmy said with a shrug.

"Well I suppose the only real way to find out would be for us to battle again" Terry said moving his hand in a small circular motion, a look of anticipation appearing on his face.

"I suppose so…" Jimmy said nodding slightly.

"Oh for god's sake, meet me outside in ten minutes for our rematch!" Terry shouted, turning around and walking out of the room. Jimmy let out a small sigh and fell back into his seat again, were there no normal people he could talk to.

Jimmy stood outside the pokémon centre, a group had gathered to come and watch the pokémon battle. Terry stood, letting the wind catch the long jacket that he had decided to put on for this specific battle.

"So what do you say Jimmy? A two on two battle?" Terry said, smiling smugly at Jimmy.

"Sure" Jimmy said "reaching towards both of his pokéballs "but only these two…no more, okay?"

"Haha if you say so" Terry chuckled "It's not as though I need to use all of mine!". Terry stepped forwards and gestured to both the trainers.

"Right guys, this is a two on two battle, umm… Well I suppose winner depends on knock out, or when one of the trainers decides to give in". Terry stood awkwardly for a while and then slowly stepped out of the circle. Terry reached to his belt and grabbed two of his pokéballs.

"Go Squirtle and Vulpix!" he shouted, throwing the pokéballs onto the field. The pokémon let out their battle cry and got into their battle positions.

"Wow your pokémon look really serious" Jimmy said staring at their determined faces.

"Just send out your pokémon dweeb!" Terry shouted.

"Fine!" Jimmy said unenthusiastically "Go! Sandshrew and Pikachu". Pikachu and Sandshrew appeared looking slightly shocked that they were actually being used for once.

"Haha a Sandshrew and Pikachu?" Terry laughed "I see you collect Mice type pokémon, shows what sort of trainer you are". The congregation began to laugh loudly around them.

"Yeah…well" Jimmy said awkwardly "I see you collect…Gay types-"

"Don't bother Jimmy, his was funnier" Sarah said above the now awkward silence.

"Whatever…" Jimmy said "Let's just get on with this damn battle."

The pokémon clashed, flying backwards and forwards narrowly dodging powerful blows. The focus seemed to be taking down Sandshrew, whenever it moved Terry's Squirtle was always ready to strike. Jimmy's mind was frantically planning out his next move, his hands were sweating and his eyes were watering. Suddenly an idea came to his mind.

"Sandshrew! Defence curl!" Sandshrew suddenly stopped in it's tracks and curled up into the defensive position.

"Big mistake!" Terry shouted "Squirtle use water gun!". Squirtle breathed in heavily. Jimmy acted quickly.

"Pikachu! Thunderbolt along the water gun!". Pikachu ran in front of Sandshrew and blasted a bolt of electricity up the stream of water. Squirtle shook violently and then lay passed out on the floor. "No!" Terry shouted. "Quick Vulpix! Get Sandshrew" Vulpix looked around but Sandshrew had disappeared.

"No fair!" Terry said "Where did your pokémon go".

"You should probably pay better attention" Jimmy said with a smile "Sandshrew! Dig!". Sandshrew burst out of the ground, smashing into Vulpix's side. Vulpix scraped along the ground and lay unconscious. Kevin came running along the middle of the field.

"Terry is out of usable pokémon…Jimmy wins! Yeah I know, I'm shocked too!"

Jimmy sat in the pokémon centre bar. The money he'd won off a very disgruntled Terry managed to pay for a double southern comfort and lemonade. Sarah came running in and wrapped her arms around Jimmy's neck.

"Whoa careful!" Jimmy shouted "You nearly spilled my drink".

"Oh I'm so proud of you Jimmy!" Sarah shouted "I knew you'd get back at that stupid butt face" Sarah planted a large kiss on the side of Jimmy's face.

"Umm, thanks" Jimmy said, rubbing the side of his face as soon as Sarah turned away. "So are we going to carry on with our journey tomorrow?" Jimmy said "I think I've had quite enough of this place"

"Of course!" Sarah said enthusiastically. "I want to be up nice and early tomorrow Jimmy so don't stay up too late!"

Jimmy stood outside of the entrance to Mt Moon. Sarah and Kevin stood staring at the opening of the cave.

"It looks really scary in there!" Kevin said, very thankful that he'd packed plenty of clean underwear.

"Well I'm ready when you are guys" Jimmy said, gesturing for them both to go in. Both Sarah and Kevin stared at him and shook their heads. "Fine!" Jimmy said "I'll lead…as usual."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Welcome to Mt. Moon

"Oh my god they're everywhere!" Sarah shouted, flapping her arms wildly around her head.

"Don't worry I'll sort them out" Kevin yelled, hurling his net over his head attempting to drag the manic Zubats away from Sarah's head.

"Hey guys do you ever wonder why there's always a guy called Cid in final fantasy" Jimmy said. He was sat on a flat rock playing on his Nintendo DS "I mean, they're all meant to be set in completely different worlds…except for X2, that was a sequel to X, I really didn't like that game-"

"Jimmy I think we have bigger things to worry about right now!" Kevin shouted attempting to pull a Zubat away from his ear.

"Seven was definitely the pinnacle of the series" Jimmy continued, ignoring Kevin and Sarah's frenzied screams "I mean Cloud was a bit of a whiney bitch, but he made up for it by carrying a 4ft sword on his back."

"Jimmy I really think now's not the time!" Sarah screamed, as a Zubat aimed itself up her skirt.

"Fine" Jimmy said, closing his DS "Pikachu can you sort this one?"

"Pi-pika!" Pikachu said with determination. "PI-PIKACHUUUUUUU!" Pikachu yelled, electricity flooding the cave. The Zubats froze in midair, twitching and contorting as the electricity rushed through their system. After a large succession of thuds, everything went quiet.

"I always preferred Tifa to Aeris, If Sephiroth had killed Tifa I would have been so much more devastated" Jimmy said, opening his DS again.

After an hour of pushing through the rocky cave our three pre-pubescent protagonists made their way deeper into Mt Moon. Water dripped from the walls and the pale lights that had kindly been set up by the pokémon league flashed and buzzed loudly.

"Okay…so where the hell are we?" Jimmy said, leaning back against a stone wall. Kevin rummaged around in his bag and pulled out a small crumpled up map.

"Right" Kevin said, running his finger along the map "I reckon we should be getting close to the centre of the cave"

"The centre?" Sarah shrieked, collapsing onto Jimmy, who let out a loud yelp.

"Yeah, it's a pretty long cave" Kevin said "I'm surprised we haven't seen any other trainers though."

"Oh we have" Jimmy said "I just made sure they didn't see us". Kevin and Sarah stared at Jimmy with bewilderment. "Well I didn't see the point in getting our Pokémon beaten up this early into the cave!"

"But Jimmy the whole point of being a pokémon trainer is to battle and train your pokémon!" Kevin said, rolling his eyes.

"Fine!" Jimmy said standing up quickly "Hey you!" He shouted. Sarah and Kevin turned around quickly and almost jumped out of their skin. The man looked equally as shocked and tried to act as though he hadn't heard them. "It's not use pretending you're not there" Jimmy said "I can see you, that giant red 'R' sticks out like a Snorlax at an Anorexia clinic". The man blinked stupidly and then stepped out of the shadows. Sarah and Kevin let out a loud gasp.

"That was a very bad move kid" The man said in a deep sinister voice. "Did your mummy never tell you to fear what lurks in the shadows".

"Alright cut that out" Jimmy said "it's hard to play sinister after you've spent the last 5 minutes hiding in the shadows from a group of 10 year olds, we have a name for people like you where I come from…and a register". The man looked in anger at Sarah and Kevin, who both edged away from Jimmy slowly.

"You have quite a nerve kid" The man said stepping further out of the shadows "maybe once I take your pokémon you won't be so cocky"

"You want to take my…?" Jimmy starting contemplating where he'd heard that before "Oh! You're one of those team rocket guys aren't you!". The man looked shocked and nervously ran his hand across the back of his head.

"Y-yeah" he said "So you better watch what you-"

"Oh I've kicked your guy's butts countless times!" Jimmy said with a laugh "seriously, I would have thought that a criminal organisation would actually be a little, you know, organised". The man began to bare his teeth and reached towards his belt.

"You'll take that back you vile little rat!" He shouted, tossing a pokéball in the air.

"Wow you'd really think that fully grown pokémon trainers would have more than 2 pokémon" Jimmy said, shoving a large wad of cash into his wallet.

"Jimmy, that was, that was just amazing!" Sarah shrieked enthusiastically, wrapping her arms firmly around his neck "at this rate I can see you becoming the pokémon master!"

"Yeah that was awesome!" Kevin said, clinging onto Jimmy's arm " When your Sandshrew roundhouse kicked that Koffin right in the face…or was it body…it all seems to be one thing…but it was awesome!". Jimmy smiled to himself, it was one of the few occasions that his irritating smugness could actually be justified. In the frenzy of the battle the team rocket grunt had managed to drop his hat on the floor and Jimmy had decided to keep it as a trophy…or a means of keeping his hair dry if it rained.

"What do you think team rocket were doing in a place like this?" Sarah asked "I mean it's all dark and gross!"

"Which is the perfect environment to set up a base!" Kevin said knowingly.

"Well not really" Jimmy said "I mean if anything a dark cave is completely impractical, there's no office space, no adequate lighting and is severely lacking in toilet facilities".

"They could always pee behind a rock!" Kevin said

"Eww Kevin!" Sarah said, edging away from him.

"Only pee!" Kevin said "They'd have to find somewhere else to go twosees"

"The point still stands that it would be completely impractical as a base." Jimmy said. Kevin's gleeful face suddenly fell. "Oh I'm sorry" Jimmy said "I didn't mean to pee on your parade…but without adequate bathroom space I didn't have a choice". Jimmy smirked in amusement at his own quick wit.

"How long had you been planning that one?" Kevin asked

"Oh a while back, I just needed a good time to say it" Jimmy said.

"So…team rocket haven't set up base here?" Sarah asked.

"Nah, it was probably just the one guy thought he could ambush some rookies" Jimmy said.

"I need to pee" Kevin said "I'm gonna go find a corner".

After Kevin returned from his unnaturally long bathroom break, they all decided to press on, partly to get away from the strange smell that was emitting from the corner Kevin had disappeared off to. Sarah seemed to have an unnatural giddiness (more so than she usually did that is). Jimmy thought it best not to ask her why she was in that mood as he was pretty certain he didn't want to know.

"What are you so giddy about?" Kevin asked, apparently concerned with Sarah's unusual behaviour.

"I don't know really" Sarah said "I just feel really pumped! I'm ready to take on some trainers and really kick some butt!"

"Oh okay" Kevin said "I thought you'd inhaled some of my bug repellent or something". Sarah seemed rather taken aback at the lack of enthusiasm from her party.

"Aren't you all feeling it?" She asked "So many trainers have come by and we've knocked them all down!". Kevin nodded for a few moments.

"Well you say we" he said "but for the most part Jimmy's been fighting most of the battles and there haven't really been many of them".

"Yeah that's true" Jimmy said "Why does everyone always challenge me, why can't they pick on you guys for once!"

"You obviously have one of those faces" Kevin said.

"What do you mean by that?" Jimmy said, stopping suddenly.

"I dunno" Kevin said "You just look all confident in yourself, I suppose people want to take you down a peg or two".

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Jimmy said, raising his hands "I am not confident in my self at all! Hell I'm constantly scared that some guy's gonna throw aside the pokéballs and beat the crap out of me"

"Yeah you wouldn't put up much of a fight without pokémon that's for sure" Sarah said.

"Thanks for that Sarah" Jimmy said.

"No seriously" Sarah said "You have the physique of a pipe cleaner, you look like a weak wind would knock you over" Sarah looked at Jimmy who now looked rather upset "But that's what makes you so cute!" Sarah chimed in quickly "You're all week and harmless but make up for it by being cute, kind of like a Jigglypuff!" Jimmy stared at Sarah for a moment.

"So you're comparing me to a Jigglypuff?" Jimmy said arching his eyebrows. "Well whatever, I'm the one that took down that team rocket grunt".

"God are you still on about that" Kevin said "that was like 20 minutes ago, it's practically history".

After walking for a further five minutes down a stony corridor, light began to appear at the end of it. Jimmy was panting heavily, he wasn't built for these sort of hikes and his footwear was far from appropriate for the current environment. Jimmy walked through the opening expecting to see the harsh light of day and was severely disappointed. The cave had opened out into a large open space. Large floodlights illuminated the entire area. The floor was much more even and the air a little less damp. The floor seemed to go up in levels almost like large steps, it was impossible to make out what was at the top of the top level but there appeared to be a lot of noise coming from there.

"So, I suppose we have to climb up there" Jimmy said, gesturing to the wall. "Well, I suppose if it's the only way". Jimmy ran at full pelt towards the rock face, he then jumped and attempted to grab onto the rock face. His hand managed to clamp onto a jutting part of the wall. With a great deal of effort he dragged himself further up. He looked down at Sarah and Kevin who both looked a little confused.

"Come on guys!" He shouted, it's not that hard. With another quick movement Jimmy scrambled upwards clinging his hand against the wall. Suddenly the piece of rock he had hold of began to move.

"Umm Jimmy…" Sarah said. Jimmy looked up to see a pair of eyes opening on the rock's face. "Yeah, I think that's a Geodude…and I don't think it's too pleased you grabbed it's face". Jimmy let out a loud scream and came crashing to the ground. The Geodude rolled it's eyes and fixed itself back into place.

"Jesus. Christ" Jimmy gasped "That. wall. is. really. difficult to. climb"

"Yeah that's what we were trying to tell you" Sarah said, gesturing in front of her. Jimmy turned around to see a collection of rope ladders hanging from the wall.

The climb up the wall was significantly easier with the aid of the rope ladders and the lack of disgruntled rock pokémon. Jimmy pulled himself over the top and rolled away to make room for Sarah. Suddenly he was met with a loud shout.

"Hey you! Battle!" Jimmy looked up to see a young red haired boy running over to him. Jimmy sighed and brought himself to his feet.

"Seriously can you just let me catch my breath" he said, wiping his brow. Sarah's head then popped up to see Jimmy with the red haired boy. With much enthusiasm she scrambled over the top and ran behind Jimmy.

"Come on Jimmy show him what you-"

"Hey you!" A voice shouted from behind her. Sarah turned to see a young blond girl running over to her "Battle now!". Sarah whipped around and stared at the girl "You want a battle?"

"No not you, him!" The girl said pointing at Jimmy.

"Seriously?" Jimmy said running his hand through his head "Well I suppose I could-"

"Hey back off!" The red haired boy said "I challenged him first.

"I don't see a pokéball in either of your hands!" The girl said, grasping one at the ready.

"We hadn't started our battle yet!" The boy said.

"Umm do I get a say in this?" Jimmy asked.

"NO!" The boy and girl shouted. Sarah turned to Jimmy and then to the arguing boy and girl.

"How about we have a double battle?" she asked grasping Jimmy's arm. "Both of you against me and Jimmy, what do you say?". The boy and the girl looked at both Jimmy and sarah and then at each other.

"I suppose that could work" The boy said

"Yeah I suppose" the girl said "just don't hold me back!".

"Wouldn't dream of it" The boy said.

Both sets of trainers stood opposite each other. Kevin stood in the middle ready to mediate the battle.

"Okay so it's a two on two battle, each trainer can use two pokémon to two pokémon. Why two? Because anymore would be too much to take". Kevin giggled at his ability to form basic puns before regaining his focus. "But I want a clean battle, no crying, no screaming and definitely no swearing. Let the battle begin!". Jimmy reached to his belt and grabbed for his pokéball.

"Go! Sandshrew!" He shouted. Sandshrew flew onto the battle field and landed gracefully on the ground.

"Ah I see you chose Sandshrew because of the rocky environment" The red haired boy said.

"Umm…yeah" Jimmy said "Why not". Sarah reached to her belt and grabbed a pokéball.

"Go! Nidoran!" She shouted. The male Nidoran emerged from the pokéball and landed alongside Sandshrew. The red haired boy turned to the girl.

"They have ground and poison on the field, will you be fine with that or will you need my assistance?"

"No, I think I've got this covered." The girl said, reaching towards her belt "Go! Bellsprout!"

"Ah Grass! The boy said I suppose I'll send out Abra!" The Abra appeared on the field, it's eyes closed, almost asleep. "Hey Abra!" the boy shouted "Abra wake up!". The Abra opened it's eyes for a moment and closed them again. "I traded him for a Scyther" he said to his partner who rolled her eyes and tapped her foot in impatience. Jimmy turned to Kevin, watching the red haired boy continue to shout at the unresponsive Abra.

"Can we just begin?" he asked. Kevin looked at the shouting boy and nodded.

Unsurprisingly the battle didn't go on for too long. Both Sandshrew and Nidoran took out the Bellsprout and later her Pidgey whilst both of the boy's pokémon which he had happened to have picked up out of trades had refused to fight for him. Regardless, Sarah and Jimmy were accepting it as a fair victory. Kevin returned to the group after spending the last 20 minutes arguing with the boy and girl.

"He did NOT want to give up" Kevin sighed "but he finally gave in, the girl was angry at first". Kevin gestured behind him. Jimmy looked over to see the boy and girl locked in a passionate kiss. "Came out of nowhere!" Kevin said "must have been the heat of the battle".

"Yeah I can understand" Sarah said "it really gets your blood pumping right Jimmy". Jimmy attempted to loosen Sarah's grip from his arm and gave a week murmur.

"Well I suppose we should press on then shouldn't we" Kevin said walking towards the next level. "There's a few of these levels to go yet". Jimmy wrenched Sarah off his arm and ran over to the ladder.

"Yeah we better get a move on."

Jimmy scrambled up the ladder, trying his hardest to get the image of the two trainers making out out of his head. Finally he reached the top of the next level and just like last time, flopped backwards. Sarah scrambled up next, closely followed by Kevin. Thankfully there were no enthusiastic trainers at the top of this level. Jimmy stood up and was suddenly leapt of by Sarah.

"Oh I'm sorry!" Sarah said "I must have fallen over".

"That's okay" Jimmy said "Can you umm, you know".

"Oh, fine!" Sarah said and shifted off Jimmy, who clambered to his feet.

"Well I was just a little uncomfortab-"

"Oh Jimmy you silly thing!" Sarah shouted, propelling herself at him. Kevin clambered over the side to see Sarah attempting to tickle Jimmy.

"Alright you two, break it u-" Kevin started. Suddenly he looked down. A large crack had appeared by his feet. Sarah looked at the crack and suddenly froze.

"Okay" Jimmy said "don't make any sudden moveme-" at this the ground split and they fell tumbling down into the dark.

Jimmy's eyes opened to a large group of eyes staring down at them. A large figure approached all dressed in black, with a large red R printed on his chest.

"Well well well" The man said "Looks like you stumbled across our base".

"I bloody knew it!" Kevin shouted.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven - Within the Lair

"You kids shouldn't be treading so carelessly in such a dangerous area" The leader said, gesturing to his subordinates. "Let us be hospitable with our guests". Jimmy, Sarah and Kevin were grabbed and pulled upright by the grunts. Struggling and thrashing against their grips they were pushed onto a large leather armchair. "Now now" The leader said "let's not do anything silly now, it would be best to cooperate." he turned suddenly to his grunts "take their pokéballs". The grunts immediately bore down on the children, wrenching the pokéballs from their belts.

"Jimmy do something!" Sarah shouted "You've taken these jerks down before!". The leader looked up suddenly.

"Has he now? So which one of you is Jimmy may I ask?". Jimmy felt his heart skip a beat, he suddenly pointed over at Kevin.

"Him! That guy" he shouted "he totally disrespects you guys!".

"Whoa, whoa no I'm not Jimmy" Kevin shouted "I'm just a bug catcher, he's so much stronger than me!"

"Hey I'm not that strong, I wet the bed until I was 5, I got the crap kicked out of me at school, hell I cried at the end of Toy story 3!"

"That's completely irrelevant!" Kevin shouted "Who didn't cry at the end of Toy Story 3!". There was an affirmative mumble from around the cave.

"Enough!" he leader shouted, there was a sudden silence. "Leave me alone with the boys. Take the girl away". Sarah was dragged to her feet, she began to scream and thrash around.

"Don't worry Jimmy, I won't tell them anything!" she shouted as she was dragged away.

"God she really has a thing about you doesn't she Jimmy" Jimmy said to Kevin with a large nod. Kevin stared back at him, a very betrayed look on his face.

Kevin and Jimmy were dragged into a small stone room. A couple of chairs were placed in front of a large desk. The leader sat down in a large red office chair. "Sit down." he said firmly to Kevin and Jimmy. Two grunts lowered the boys down into their chairs and then stood by the door. "Can you leave us gentlemen, I would prefer to not have an audience at this moment". The men let out a sinister laugh and slowly closed the door behind them. Their footsteps echoed as they walked away.

"Now I will teach you the true vengeance of Team rocke-" The leader started, the footsteps from outside had now vanished "What the hell do you think you are doing!" he shouted suddenly. Jimmy and Kevin stared back at him, completely bemused. "Two years!" he shouted "Two damn years rising to the top!".

"Umm" Jimmy said "So you're"

"No!" he shouted "Stop talking, listen. Do you know what you have done, do you know how long I have been working on this plan?"

"I think you said two years" Kevin said

"Wrong!" The man shouted "Five years of planning, to be jeopardised by three little kids!"

"Okay, okay!" Jimmy said quickly "We didn't exactly mean to-"

"You're just lucky I'm good at improvising!" the man continued "I had to come up with something on the spot!"

"Well you did a really good job" Kevin said "You definitely had me convinced!". The man suddenly stopped his shouting and gave a sudden smile.

"Well I was part of an amateur drama group when I was younger" , he said with a nostalgic look "I actually played the part of Buttons in my Am-Drams performance of Cinderella, my mother said I was amazing!".

"Umm not to change the subject or anything" Jimmy said quickly "but who are you and what the hell are you doing down here?".

"Oh how rude of me" The man said. He whipped his hat off to reveal his dark red hair and un-obscuring his face. "No I'm not surprised you're so shocked, I am indeed a master of disguise!". Kevin and Jimmy blinked sheepishly. "Ah well I haven't removed the rest of my disguise!" he shouted. Suddenly he whipped his team rocket suit off himself to reveal a pair of frilly boxer shorts. Jimmy and Kevin gave him a concerned look. "Crap I forgot I wasn't wearing my cape!" Both Jimmy and Kevin fought to avert their gaze. "I'm sorry," the man said "could you possibly pass me my spare suit, it's in the wardrobe behind you."

After awkwardly slipping his clothes back on the man sat back in his chair and picked up a pile of paperwork. Not looking up from the paper he spoke to the two boys "So…I think it would be best if we don't talk about what just happened". Jimmy and Kevin smirked but said nothing. "I'll take that silence as a yes" The man said, placing the papers onto the table. "So I suppose now would be the time for introductions," the man said "Now which one of you is the trainer Jimmy?". Kevin glared at Jimmy who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah that'd be me." Jimmy said raising his hand weakly.

"Ah I see," the man said "and your friend here is a decoy?"

"Hell no!" Kevin said "This bastard was just trying to blame me!".

"Oh come on!" Jimmy said "You knew how much trouble I was in, a real friend would have hung in there for me!"

"Are you kidding?" Kevin shouted "A real friend wouldn't drag his friend down with him!"

"No, I was simply hoping that if you confessed as well then they wouldn't know which one to go after, strength in unity, like in Spartacus!".

"So now you're comparing yourself to Spartacus?" Kevin shouted "You egotistical dick!". The man watched the two boys shouting at each other and began to wish that he hadn't even mentioned it.

After a few minutes of pointless bickering, which had resulted in the agreed conclusion that it was all Sarah's fault. After Jimmy and Kevin had both introduced themselves, Jimmy then explained to the man about his past run-ins with team rocket and how they had stumbled across this hideout.

"Which brings me to my main concern" Jimmy said.

"Which is?" the man asked?

"Where the hell do you guys go to the bathroom?". The man stared at Jimmy for a moment and then shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"It is somewhat difficult" The man said "you really don't want to know the details". Jimmy looked over at Kevin and smirked smugly.

"So we've introduced ourselves" Kevin said "How about you tell us who you are." The man looked at them for a second and then stood up dramatically.

"Well really, I don't think I should need any introduction" The man said "But I suppose you have never seen me in person so wouldn't know of who I am". The man stood up straight and pointed his hand in the air. "I am former elite 4 champion Lance!". Jimmy and Kevin looked at him for a moment. Lance haltered and then went to sit back down. "So…you have no idea who I am. Dragon master? Champion of the elite 4?" Kevin bit his lip and Jimmy gave a small shrug. "Wow" Lance said "Seriously, you drop off the radar for a few years and then suddenly everyone forgets about you."

"Oh wait" Kevin said "You're Lance, of the elite four, the dragon master, yeah my mum wouldn't ever shut up about you".

"Yeah I'm not buying that." Lance said, sitting back in his chair. "Oh well once this operation is complete I'll be a hero once again!" Lance picked up a sheet of paper and pushed it across to Jimmy "Which brings me to my point. From what I heard earlier you have managed to take down a couple of rockets without breaking a sweat".

"Well yeah, they're not much harder than most trainers to be honest" Jimmy said "In fact some of them have been a lot easier than some of the trainers I'm up against. I don't really see what the fuss is about". Lance nodded and began to write in a small notebook.

"You see, the issue isn't that they are hard to defeat, most of them have no idea what they're doing, but these guys don't fight fair, they'll be ready to gang up on the most inexperienced trainers. If you're facing a rocket then it's important that you don't fight fair either. But of course, taking down a few rockets isn't enough, these guys aren't going to change their ways just because they got beaten down by a kid. That's why I started this mission, to bring them all down from the inside." Jimmy and Kevin nodded.

"So is there a reason that you're telling us this?" Kevin asked.

"Well partly it's because I can trust you" Lance said "I mean, no one would believe you even if you were to say anything. But there is something else I have planned, something that will hopefully assist the eventual outcome of my mission." Lance turned to Jimmy and reached into his pocket. "Jimmy, can you give me your pokédex, I have an attachment that will be of use to both of us." Jimmy shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Well yeah, I'd like to" Jimmy said "But to be honest I don't actually have a pokédex". Lance looked at Jimmy for a moment.

"Oh" Lance said "Well in that case." Lance pulled open a drawer in his desk and took out a dusty old pokédex. "One of the earliest made" Lance said "my own personal pokédex." Lance slid the pokédex across to Jimmy "Not that I need it anymore". Jimmy picked up the pokédex which sprung open. "of course I tricked it out myself over the past few years" Lance said "I even managed to install Tetris on it! I'll of course reset the pokémon data, it's more fun that way." Jimmy was in awe at the pokédex, his own parents had never given him anything this valuable before.

"But why are you giving it to me?" Jimmy asked, staring at the priceless object.

"Yeah why the hell are you giving it to him!" Kevin said angrily.

"It's quite simple" Lance said "I need an outside man, a guy that is ready to see the world and ballsy enough to face team rocket without flinching. I've met two young men who performed this task in the past and they both went on to become magnificent trainers. Jimmy, you're the sort of kid that will never back down in a fight, who will fight true to the end and hang in strong when you need to. For every member of team rocket you meet I want you to use your pokédex to scan them and their pokémon. The information will be sent directly to me and will keep me informed on action of the outside." Jimmy turned to Kevin and gulped.

"Wow, this is really heavy" Jimmy said, running a hand behind his neck "I don't know if I'm even capable of attempting-"

"I'll do it!" Kevin interrupted, reaching for the pokédex.

"Okay I'll do it" Jimmy said, quickly putting the pokédex into his pocket.

"Excellent" Lance said "I can see you being of great use to me in the future Jimmy".

"Well this is great and all," Kevin said "But how are you planning on getting us out of this place to carry out your mission?". Lance looked at Kevin for a while and then bit his lip.

"Yes, we do seem to have overlooked that very crucial point haven't we." Lance said, drumming his feet against the desk. "Okay I have an idea, but it's not going to be easy, especially if we are going to get your young friend back".

"Young friend?" Jimmy said. "Oh crap Sarah!"

The rocket grunt lay unconscious on the floor whilst two others cowered in the corner. Sarah walked over to them and held out her hand. "Pokéballs. Now" she said through gritted teeth. The terrified rocket shakily dropped the pokéballs into her outstretched hands.

"P-please, we've given you what you want, just don't-" The grunt looked at his unconscious friend collapsed on the ground and tears began to form in his eyes.

"Oh, he was the lucky one" Sarah said with a malicious smile. "You guys are in for a whole new level of hurt!". Suddenly a door behind her burst open. Kevin and Jimmy ran through, completely out of breath.

"Sarah we managed to get away and came to save you-" Kevin started. His eyes suddenly looked over the terrified rockets and the completely unconscious man. "What the hell-"

"Oh Jimmy!" Sarah shouted, wrapping her arms around him suddenly.

"Wait is that blood?" Kevin said, looking at the puddles on the floor.

"I hope they didn't hurt you Jimmy" Sarah said, "I'll not forgive them if they did!"

"It's okay" Jimmy said, "Let's just get the hell out of here!". Sarah turned to the Rockets who all leapt back in horror.

"So would any of you boys like to tell me where the exit is?" Sarah said with a sweet smile. The men all quickly pointed in the same direction. "Why thank you" she said.

Lance sat in his office sorting through his papers. He had a good feeling about Jimmy, perhaps he was the one that would bring team rocket down once and for all. Suddenly there was a loud knock at his door. "Come in" Lance said, casually stapling some papers together. Three rocket grunts marched in. Their clothes were torn and they looked utterly terrified. One of them stood forward and placed a sheet of paper on the table.

"We've come to hand in our resignation" he said pushing the sheet towards Lance. Lance looked up at the men and then over at the sheet.

"You can't just leave Team Rocket" Lance said "Your only exit is through prison or death."

"We don't care" one of the men said "Anything is better than what we went through today!".


End file.
